Doomsday
by Marasquin
Summary: Caleb starts aging alarmingly fast, Tyler risks discovery for the entire covenant and Reid gets some action. not in that specific order, with inbetween affairs of love, betrayal, churches, cigarettes and painful memories. [R&R]
1. Chapter 1

It was a cold, wet, rainy autumn night when newly ascended Caleb Danvers fought and defeated Chase Collins, the fifth and final bloodline of Ipswich Covenant of silence.

After all the effort he and his fellow Sons of Ipswich put into defeating this menace, his death seemed like the most satisfying of things.

So life returned to its bizarre normalcy for the four sons, where they could bask in the glory of knowing that they single handedly defeated great evil that threatened to destroy everything. A glory that none of them could share, of course, but glory nonetheless.

Days, weeks and months pass, and soon it shows that the Covenant's troubles didn't end with the apparent death of Chase Collins. The cold, unforgiving month of January came and a new enemy surfaces that cannot be defeated with strength and wit, and the boys are left helpless facing the betrayal of one of their own.

* * *

"Nice. Very nice. I like this new budget increase."

Three of the four boys were sitting on the benches by the pool, admiring the newest addition to the swim team. Half a dozen lovely buxom cheerleaders.

Reid, who seemed the most interested, was the one who spoke first. He was eyeing a girl as blonde as he on the right side, dressed in a short dark blue skirt and a matching shirt that could pass off as a considerably conservative bra. She had a bellybutton ring that jiggled at every shake of her pompoms, and a chest that did the same. Her smile was too wide to be real, but the authenticity of a girl's happiness wasn't what turned Reid Garwin on.

Pogue, sitting on Reid's left, had his eyes glued on the pretty brunette in the middle of the six girls. Kate winked cheekily at him and turned to face the rest of her team, before showing them the proper way to stretch and her amazing flexibility. Pogue whistled under his breathe, wiping sweat off his brow in a mocking _is it just me, or is it hot in here?_

Tyler was sitting on Reid's left, and was looking at the cheerleaders absent-mindedly, without saying a word, wondering why the swim team captain and the self-appointed leader of the sons of Ipswitch would miss out on one of the most important meets of the year.

"I like the uniforms." Pogue said, not taking his eyes off his girlfriend who was practicing her choreography in an extremely sensual way to tease her sweetie. "And the choreography. And whatever the hell they do to their skin to make it so damn hot…"

His voice trailed off when the swim coach approached the threesome. He stood in front of them for a moment, staring at each and every one of them and the empty space on the bench beside Pogue that was usually occupied by Caleb. The coach sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Alright guys. I need four and I only see three. This is a problem."

"Sorry coach, we haven't seen Caleb all day, and he never told us he was gonna skip practice." Reid said.

The man sighed again.

"Well, the three of you get in the pool. Ten lengths warm-up, stat."

The three boys obediently stood from their bench, removed their shirts and dived into the deep end of the Olympic pool with a particularly large splash.

* * *

Lying did not occupy an important place on Caleb Danvers' To-Do list.

Not only did he deem it an immoral, evil and disgraceful thing to do, but he was awful at doing so.

It was entirely thanks to his incredible love for his friends and the constant fear of being discovered that he managed to keep the secret of the power as a secret should be.

And it was this same love and fear that convinced him that lying today would be the best option for everyone, including himself.

He first noticed it this morning, after taking a shower and getting dressed in his school's dark blue and black uniform. He reached for his tie and noticed that his hands seemed different than usual. After closer examination he realized that his left hand – his spotty, wrinkled veiny left hand – had aged without waiting for the rest of his body.

Caleb didn't like to panic either. "_only cowards panic." _He stated most of the time. But today he panicked for the first time in five years with the slow realization that the abuse of power he had used at Putnam barn was catching up with him.

Maybe he believed that since he used his power for a good cause it would have no effect on his body. Or maybe he thought he was stronger than the addiction and the consequences. Whatever it was, he realized, it wasn't true, and he was already beginning to age, barely four months after he had ascended.

"This is even worse than Dad." He whispered to himself. He was sitting on his bed, his left hand lying limply of his lap, twitching now and then.

His father hadn't started aging until his late thirties. Caleb had barely turned eighteen, he had barely ascended before it began to show.

He willingly missed his swim meet. He couldn't let the guys see his hand, and he hadn't even checked if other parts of him were affected. He had used the time to think, and came up with very little possible actions.

The obvious one was to lie, and pretend nothing was wrong until he found a better way to deal with the problem. This would avoid panic for Reid, Tyler, Pogue and Sarah. It would also give him time to think it over, maybe find a solution. Maybe this had nothing to do with his Using.

The second more honorable possibility was to tell the guys, panic together and find a solution together.

For the first time in his life Caleb Danvers chose the least honorable option.

He slipped on a pair of leather gloves – no use drawing attention to his hand by wearing just one – grabbed his bag once more and stood from his bed. He walked down the stairs, out the front door and drove his car to school almost an hour late.

* * *

_This is going somewhere, i promise. Criticism is appreciated, good or bad, if it improves the story. _

_xoxo_


	2. Chapter 2

An unforgiving blast of icy January wind greeted Pogue Parry as he stepped out of the gym. He took a refreshing breath of the cold air and exhaled a cloud. He shoved his two hands in his coat pockets and made his way across campus towards his next class.

A minute outside was enough to make his long hair freeze in small sections that scraped against the side of his face. He managed to reach the door to the main building before said sections started chipping off, and while he was putting his coat in his locker and rummaging through it to find his biology book he noticed the familiar face grabbing the same book from the locker beside him.

"Caleb? Where the fuck were you?" he tugged on his chemistry manual, releasing it at the expense of four other books that tumbled to the floor. "You were supposed to be at practice this morning!"

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that." Caleb closed his locker. He sighed. "I just wasn't feeling it this morning. My head was pounding, my muscles hurt… pretty much anything that could physically feel like shit did."

"Don't worry about it." Pogue said sympathetically, putting his books back in his locker. "I'm sure the coach can let our star captain off the hook for once."

"Thanks, man." Caleb said.

The two walked silently towards their next class, arriving instants before the chemistry class began. Pogue took his usual seat beside Tyler and Caleb took his beside Reid.

The Teacher walked in soon after they did, pushing a cart full of jars.

"Dissection time!" He chimed after a few seconds. Many groaned, some turning pale at the thought of cutting through an animal, some not reacting at all.

The dissections, like every other biology experiment, was done in a group of four. As the class divided into sections, Tyler went to find a frog corpse and a foursome of scalpels.

"Now that's what I call a nice specimen." Reid said, looking at the approaching Tyler.

Tyler blinked and looked down at the frog, who's stomach was turning grey. Reid motioned at him to move over, and continued looking past him at another blonde girl.

Blonde wasn't a common hair color at Spencer. Out of the three hundred students, barely fifty of them had blonde hair, and little over a dozen students could say that blonde was their natural hair color. Five of these natural blondes were present in this science class: Reid, the cheerleader from the pool, the girl he was observing, a studly football player and a quiet wallflower.

"Is it just me, or have all the girls suddenly matured and became good-looking over this winter break?"

"Probably just you, Reid." Pogue responded with a laugh. "Or the fact that since its winter they make it impossibly hot in here, so the girls pull their skirts up higher and undo more buttons."

Indeed, the girl Reid was examining had four buttons undone at the top of her blouse, and her skirt was just as short as the cheerleading uniforms.

"Hmm… that might be it." Reid said, his eyes fixing on the legs of the cheerleader that just walked past them.

The dissection of the adult frog was going to be used as a study of the lungs of amphibians, so the four boys sliced open the animal, removed its lungs on a metal place, sketched them and replaced them back in. Tyler was on delivery boy duty, so he had to bring and bring back all the supplies. As he headed over to the teacher's desk to return the frog, Reid stood sharply to look up the skirt of the cheerleader who had bent over and shoved him.

Tyler stumbled a few steps and knocked some books out of the blonde wallflower's arms, who was busy taking off her latex gloves. The books fell to the floor.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry…" He cradled the frog on its plate under one arm and bent down to help her pick them up.

"Its ok, really, its fine…" She knelt down beside him and picked up some of the books.

They both stood, and Tyler handed her the two books he had picked up. His bare hand brushed against hers and he saw her eyes widen. She jerked her hand back and yelped in fear, accidentally pushing Tyler back. The frog, thanks to the push and transferred momentum, flew out of its plate towards the girl, who had one hand on her mouth and was staring at Tyler in fear.

"Shit." Tyler panicked. His eyes flashed black and the frog dropped a few inches from the girl's uniform. She had dropped her books again, and was picking them up without looking up at Tyler.

"Hey, you ok?" He put out his hand to try to help her up, but she jerked away from it and got up by herself.

"Yeah, fine. Sorry about your frog." She spun around and quickly made her way back to her seat. Tyler just blinked.

"Tyler! What the hell, man?" Reid said angrily from his seat. The commotion had blocked his view of the cheerleader. Tyler took a step towards him to retort something and stepped on their squishy experiment, still lying on the floor, turning what used to be a frog and a possible A into a flat green and red mess.

Someone somewhere screamed.

A girl with short black hair busied herself examining the youngest son with great interest.

* * *

"Way to go." Pogue said sourly.

Tyler was kept after class to clean up the mess, and all four of them stayed even longer to redo the entire destroyed dissection. Alone in the science lab when they could be eating lunch and having a joyful chat with their friends, the four drew the last line of their new sketches. The biology teacher left a while ago, trusting the four boys not to cause too much ruckus.

Tyler was the last to drop his finished report on the counter, making sure not to step on the wet patch of ground he just cleaned. He didn't bother replying to Pogue, it would just start an argument he wanted to avoid.

"Whatever." He mumbled instead. He had been reprimanded enough on his clumsiness in the past hour, he didn't want another speech. He waited for his three friends to finish packing up their bags and leaving the lab before leaving himself. On his way out he passed by the blonde girl's desk, subconsciously analyzing her seat, her table and anything else there was. He was still wondering what had scared her so badly when he walked out the door.

"Hey."

He jumped and dropped his bag.

The girl with short black hair was standing, leaning against the wall beside the door to the lab. She had her arms crossed and was staring at him intently.

"Hi." He said in reply, leaning over to pick up his bag.

"I'm Fae." She said, grinning. "Fae Renfield."

"Nice to meet you." He said stoically. "What do you want?"

She curled her lip, and laughed.

"Clever little Tyler Sims. How did you know I wanted something from you?"

"You finished class an hour ago. And you waited."

She laughed again, louder this time. Her hair was jet black and cut roughly just below the ears, and fell loose but straight in uneven layers. She had eyes the same color, surrounded with dark eye makeup and long lashes. She had a single jewel pierced through her nose, and was wearing the mandatory uniform like everyone else with the addition of shiny black boots that rose to about knee-length. Since he first saw her she had an annoying smirk on her face that since then broke into a wide grin showing rows of shiny whine teeth.

"Of course. How strange of me." Fae said. "It is only polite that I explain to you why I waited." Here she stayed quiet, the annoying smirk back on her face. She waited in silence for a minute, then started up again.

"I was wondering what the quiet, shy and frankly boring Tyler Sims, who happens to be the least popular of the Sons of Ipswitch, could have done to scare the shit out of wallflower-of-the-year Maddie Sparrow."

He stared in awe at the blatant insults she just politely hurled at him.

"I didn't do anything."

Saying so immediately caused Fae Renfield to begin rambling again.

"That's bullshit, you must have done something, this girl is pretty much impossible to scare. We went to see a Saw marathon a while back and we invited her out of pity and she didn't even twitch during all three of the movies. The girl isn't scared of anything, but I saw it she looked like she had seen the devil when she looked at you..."

Tyler sighed. Fae had just called him boring, shy, unpopular, non-intimidating and the devil. He was wondering if she was planning on stopping any time soon.

"I mean unless you used some sort of magic then I don't see how you could have scared her…"

Tyler winced at the remark about magic, and Fae had noticed it. She smiled, satisfied and picked up her bag by her feet.

"Maybe you could tell me over a coffee later on?"

Tyler grunted.

"Cool, I'll meet you at the coffee shop on Shaw avenue at six tonight. Bye!"

She strutted off and disappeared behind a corner, leaving Tyler standing in the doorway of the silence lab, wondering what the hell had just happened.


	3. Chapter 3

Caleb's hand hurt, and it wasn't the one that hurt this morning.

After class he had escaped to his car and drove down a random street just to stop his car where no one was looking and check his hand. The left was as he left it: old. But his right hand, intact this morning, was bright red and throbbing, the blue veins pulsing under his skin and causing him horrible pain.

He stepped out of his car and covered it in snow. The pain subsided for a moment, only to return in full force when he took it from the ice. He swore and shoved it roughly back into the snow.

He sat on the edge of the road for a while, thinking about his ascension and his hands. His right hand didn't make any sense, he hadn't used all day and he shouldn't age without using, those were the rules. So what was wrong with his right hand?

He stared off into the distant trees.

He didn't want to age so soon. He wanted a family, a descendant, someone to keep the covenant alive. He wanted to be able to marry Sarah and have a son and raise him and be young and happy. He deserved it more than anyone else.

He made a fist with his hand under the snow. He was going to find a way to stop this aging, no matter what.

* * *

After class, before going out to meet Fae, Tyler began a quest to find Maddie Sparrow, who's name he had never heard before but who had troubled him a lot recently. He checked each hallway, each classroom and every lounge before giving up. He walked down the hall, moping, checking his watch when he spotted a head of blonde hair. 

"Maddie! Hey!" The head didn't turn around, so he ran up to her. "Look, I'm real sorry for what I-"

"Hey Tyler." Sarah Said with a smile. "Looking for someone."

"Hey Sarah. Sorry, from the back you look like someone."

"Who?" She eyed him curiously. "A girl you like?"

"Not really, just someone I'm looking for. Maddie Sparrow."

"She went to the park, I think. Check that big oak tree in the middle of the square, she usually sits there."

He thanked Sarah and walked briskly towards the square in the middle of campus, without asking what a teenage girl would be doing in a deserted park in the middle of one of the coldest winters in history.

The outside met his expectations: cold and lonesome. No one was in the park except a few smokers enjoying a quick cigarette and the blonde girl sitting at the base of the tree, all wrapped up and reading a book.

Tyler shivered, he wasn't wearing a coat. He jogged towards her.

"Maddie!" She looked up, saw him, and her eyes widened. He stopped close to her. "Look, I'm really sorry for whatever I did to you in chemistry today, I didn't mean it I swear and if there is any way I can make it up to you…"

"Arent you cold?" She stated flatly.

He was. But he didn't notice it at the moment. He was busy noticing the odd light grey color of her eyes and the paleness of her skin, her curly blonde hair (very different than Sarah's) and her single blue jewel earrings.

"Yeah. A little. But that's not the point. I want to apologize for-"

"Apology accepted." She said with a small smile. She was still looking at him curiously, although the fear and surprise had disappeared.

"Um… thanks." Tyler said, slightly lost. After a moment of silence he stuck out his hand. "Tyler Sims." He said in a very professional voice.

"Madeline Sparrow." She shook his hand.

"Um, Madeline." He called her by her full name now that he knew what it was. "If you don't mind my asking, why were you so scared this morning."

She blinked.

"I wasn't scared, more like startled. The frog was pretty gross once dissected."

It was a bad lie, they both knew it. Tyler had seen her single handedly dissect her frog in half he time he did. Madeline hoped that if he realized she had lied Tyler wouldn't insist on getting the truth out of her.

"Oh, ok then." He was really feeling the cold now, he was shivering very visibly. "Did you just arrive at Spencer?"

"No, I've been here for three years." She said with another smile. She looked at his shivering hands. "You are cold."

"I am not."

"Here." She handed him a pair of gloves from her coat pocket. "At least try not to get frostbite unless necessary."

"But your h-hands?"

She raised her two hands gloved in dark leather and waved gently. Tyler accepted the gloves gratefully and slipped them on his hands. Almost instantly he felt warmer.

"Have you actually been here for three years?"

"Yup." She said. "I just don't mingle, I guess. Except with a few people…" Her voice trailed off as she watched one of the girls that was smoking earlier on approach. Her hips were swaying gracefully as she walked and occasionally exhaled a cloud of smoke, every few breaths a ring. As she approached Tyler could see that she was breathtaking, with long dark brown hair that was at least mid-back and icy cold blue eyes that gave her a penetrating gaze.

"Mads," she said between two clouds of smoke. "I'm hungry. Lets go grab some grub." She looked over at Tyler and frowned. "Who's he?"

"Tyler Sims." Maddie said. "A friend. Sortof."

"Nice, nice." The girl said. "So you up for grabbin' some food with us Tyler?"

"I," He checked his watch. "Actually have to go meet a friend soon." He looked up at the girl. "Sorry."

"Hmm… I'm sure you are." She said coldly.

"Friend? Who?" Maddie asked.

"Well, not a friend perse, more like an acquaintance… its actually why I'm here, she wanted to know how I scared you so bad."

"Scared? Her?" The brunette looked quizzically at the frail blonde.

"Well, no. Startled." Maddie said. "Who is it?"

"Fae Renfield."

Maddie frowned, her light eyes settling into a puzzled expression.

"Don't go." She said simply. "You'll regret it." Tyler was startled at her cold and blatant answer.

"I wasn't planning on staying long. She's kind of annoying to tell you the truth."

Maddie looked at him mournfully, then stood up delicately.

"C'mon Anastasia, lets get some dinner. Bye Tyler." She waved lightly and left.

* * *

_I'm really getting into this story, ive been writing some of it almost constantly, so the updates might be quick. Please review some more, i really appreciate it :)_


	4. Chapter 4

Fae Renfield was dressed in a short black skirt, fishnet stockings and a thick black trenchcoat when Tyler met her outside the coffee shop at 6:02. She was examining a sign on the door proclaiming the wonders of their eco-organic café lattes before he arrived, and as soon as he was within sight her attention was fully focused on him.

Once inside she ordered a eco-organic French vanilla white mocha latte and took a seat at a square table by the biggest window. Tyler had a cup of black coffee, and sat beside her reluctantly.

"Fae, I can't stay long, I have things to do and-"

"I don't expect you to stay." She said, taking a sip from her cup. "I just wanted to prove a theory and I did. Well, you did." She smirked evily. "You see, Tyler Sims, I've been observing you and your friends for a while now, and I've known for a long time that there was something up with you, I just couldn't place my finger on it." Another sip. "But now I have, thanks to your silly public display."

"What are you talking about?"

"Science, second period this morning. First you scared Maddie Sparrow, who has never been scared of anything in her life. Made her almost run for her life, you did. Then when the frog was flying a direct course for her it stopped in mid-air and fell straight down to the floor. And then five minutes ago when that car stopped a centimeter before it hit that child." She paused, savoring the feeling her last sentence had when it was in her mouth. "And I caught it all on tape."

Tyler choked on his coffee

"What?"

"You heard me. I, Fae Renfield, have found what was so special about those 'sons of Ipswtch'. After years of research, I have the proof, thanks to a silly little boy who wasn't responsible enough. You used your power in public, and thanks to a handy camera phone I have you, your myseterious temporary black eyes and your saving the day on tape." She finished the last of her coffee and stood. "Toodles, Tyler Sims."

She walked out the coffee shop and Tyler didn't make a move to stop her.

_What have I done?_

His hand twitched around the coffee cup and he started shaking.

_I just condemned us all. Pogue, Caleb, Reid… Were all dead meat now!_

He closed his eyes. There had to be a way to stop her. There had to be, and if anyone knew it would be Caleb.

He stood briskly from his seat, left a few coins as a tip and walked out of the store, heading for his truck and then Caleb's house.

* * *

Caleb woke up groggily when the doorbell to his house rang in the middle of the night. He slipped on a shirt, remembered his hands in time to put on some gloves and head down the large staircase towards the front door, where the bell chimed again.

"Tyler?"

He half expected it to be Pogue, or Reid, or even Sarah, but not Tyler, who was afraid of all of them and didn't want to do anything wrong or disappointing.

"Caleb we have a serious problem."

He explained the whole Fae Renfield problem in a nutshell while Caleb made coffee in his kitchen, his hands twitching on the mugs from the pain and the shock.

"Youre kidding right?"

"I'm not, and Caleb I am so sorry I-"

"Don't say anything." Caleb retorted coldly. "You've done enough."

With that he walked back up to his room and left Tyler alone in his kitchen, shocked at his friend's sudden anger. He sat awkwardly at his kitchen table, two mugs of fuming black coffee in front of him.

_You know you mess up when Caleb hates you. _He thought bitterly as he stepped out of the house.

* * *

_REVIEW!_

_lots of people read, and barely any of them review._

_REVIEW! _

_please?_


	5. Chapter 5

Tyler fell asleep, woke up, got to school, all while thinking how to fix his Fae problem. As he woke up the next day, after few hours of sleep, he let his mind linger to a world where Fae Renfield was dead – murdered. After he had gotten some caffeine in his system he realized how stupid that was. There was no way he was going to kill someone, even if when she was alive she was a great danger to them. Caleb, Reid and Pogue might, but not him. 

He ate, got into his uniform and headed out towards the school. His first class was biology, and he wasn't looking forward to having to face both Caleb and Fae together for an entire hour. So when he dragged himself into the lab he was thrilled to see the latter was missing. Caleb was sitting at his usual spot looking particularly gloomy, so Tyler didn't mention the discussion they had last night.

The biology teacher arrived ten minutes late, holding a single piece of paper and looking mournful.

"Students, I'm afraid I have some bad news for all of you. A fellow student of yours, Fae Renfield, passed away last night."

Tyler choked.

"A memorial is being held at the moment in the grand hall. If you can all exit in a single file, we'll head down there and pay our respects."

All the students rose and left the classroom, the four sons at the back of the line. Reid joked about how great it was missing out on bio, Pogue punched his arm and told him that it's because someone is dead, dumbass, you shouldn't be celebrating. Caleb merely looked at Tyler and mouthed to him _what did you do?_

Tyler tried mouthing something in return but the foursome was separated with the flow of students down the hall. They arrived at the grand hall and seated themselves on the plastic chairs and listened to various speakers, including the principal, a few teachers and several teary-eyed students, speak of the wonders of Fae Renfield and how she was snatched from life too soon, how her brilliant journalistic career was planned out for her but cruel fate took her away.

The ceremony ended ten minutes within the next class, so the administration allowed the students a free period, to remember their friend and possibly contribute something to the shrine dedicated to her in the lounge.

Caleb headed off to the rescheduled swim meet he missed, Reid went to the gym to look at cheerleading practice and Pogue set off to study for his calculus test. Tyler followed him, and the two ended up sitting in the deserted library, Pogue completely concentrated on his calculus book. Silence reigned for a few minutes, before Tyler broke it.

"We had a problem you know."

Pogue looked up from his book.

"Had?"

"Yeah, had."

"So why does it matter now?" Pogue said, diving back into his calculus.

"Because it disappeared suspiciously."

Pogue sighed and closed his book.

"What happened?"

"This girl, Fae Renfield."

Pogue frowned.

"The dead one?"

"Yeah."

"What about her?"

"She… knew."

"What?"

"She knew. About us, and the power and the using. And she caught me using on tape. And she told me she was going to tell the world."

Pogue just stared at him in utter shock.

"What the fuck went through your head when you used in front of her!" He was angry now.

"This kid was going to get run over by an eighteen-wheeler! I wasn't just going to let that happen! I used and the truck stopped an inch from his face! And how was I supposed to know that the psycho bitch would suspect something and use her camera phone?"

Silence ensued, giving Tyler time to catch his breath and Pogue time to think it over.

"Well, she's dead now. So we don't have to worry."

"But doesn't it seem just a tad suspicious? I mean, its too convenient."

Pogue's eyes widened.

"You think one of us did it? You're insane, and besides no one knew until now! And that's just me!" He hissed.

"I told Caleb last night. He was pretty pissed, and you know how he always says that he'll do anything to protect the covenant..."

"No."

"Pogue, its just a theory-"

"No, Caleb couldn't have killed anyone. What the hell are you trying to do, turn me against him? Caleb is the most caring person I have ever met, he never would kill anyone!"

It was no use trying to reason with Pogue, Tyler now realized. He was just going to blatantly deny the obvious change in Caleb's attitude and the fact that it was possible that Caleb had something to do with it.

"Look Pogue, I'm sorry…"

His voice trailed off as a familiar girl entered the library and walked towards him with a lingering smell of cigarettes and perfume around her. Her long brown hair was tied back today, but she looked as stunning as she did the first time he met her.

"Hey Tyler Sims." Anastasia purred. "Sorry to here about your friend."

"Hey. Um, thanks."

She sat in the chair infront of him, beside Pogue. He looked over the newcomer with surprise.

"I'm Anastasia by the way." She said. "Anastasia Siward, but you can call me Ana. I'm Maddie's roomie."

"Pogue Parry." Pogue said.

"Nice to meet you." She shook his hand briefly, then turned her attention back to Tyler. "I suppose you didn't take Mads' advice, you still went to meet her?"

"Yeah, I did."

Anastasia pouted briefly, and twirled an unlit cigarette between her index and thumb.

"Shame, you should have. Most people don't listen to her, although its in their best interest…" She stood up. "Well I must be going. I just dropped by to say hello. See you around."

She walked out the library, swinging her hips and giving the two boys a great angle to view her rear-end from. They both stared for a minute, then snapped back to their conversation.

"Who's Maddie?" Pogue asked.

"Madeline Sparrow. The blonde girl I scared in bio yesterday."

"Ah, yes. What advice did she give you?"

"She told me not to go. That I would regret it."

"And do you?"

He paused for a minute, thinking about it. He regretted going, using in front of her, exposing himself, exposing his friends.

"Yes."

Pogue leaned back on his chair, satisfied.

"So you're telling me you're accusing a guy you've known for seventeen years and that just happens to have a mood swing over some girl you just met that one moment thought you were the devil and the other a friend and correctly predicted one of the most important moments of your life?"

"Thanks a lot Pogue. I feel like an idiot now."


	6. Chapter 6

It had taken him thirty-five minutes of running across campus to find Madeline Sparrow sitting in a different tree in a different park, reading the same book she was yesterday.

She looked up when she heard him let out a cry of victory and jog towards her.

"Hey Tyler." She said with a smile. "Sorry about Fae. What can I do for you?"

"I need to talk to you. About Fae."

She frowned.

"Alright. What about Fae?"

"How did you know something bad was going to happen?"

She looked up at him, unfazed.

"I did?"

"You said 'don't go, you'll regret it.' You knew something, what did you know?"

"Nothing, I just had a bad feeling about her, and the whole thing. She's a bitch. I thought she was going to do something mean to you, I never expected her to die."

It seemed like a perfectly normal explanation, but Tyler didn't trust it. It seemed too normal, in fact.

"Alright."

It wasn't in his nature to argue. Instead, he sat beside her at the base of the tree and read a part of her book over her shoulder. He barely read one sentence when she looked back at him, amused.

"Interested in Nietzsche now, are we?"

"Nie-what?" Tyler asked, confused.

Madeline laughed.

"Friedrich Nietzsche. He was a philosopher, a long time ago." She closed her book and showed him the front cover. "This is a collection of his essays."

"Cool, I think."

"You think?"

"Yeah. I don't know anything about philosophy, so I don't know if it's a good thing or not. As long as its an interesting thing to read, I guess its ok with me."

She smiled at him and he noticed the dimples in her cheeks.

_She smiles pretty._

A sudden gust of wind blew strands of her blonde hair into her face. With a brush of his bare, cold hand Tyler brushed it away, his fingers lingering at her cheek for a single, awkward second.

"Um…" He tried to think of something clever to say but felt himself turn red.

"Tyler!"

He jumped at the sudden screech and his hand jumped with him scratching Maddie on the side of the cheek. Tyler spun around, furious, only to be lifted up a few feet in the air by his collar. He stared Reid Garwin in the face for a full ten seconds before a punch was shot at him. He barely managed to dodge the fist, his ear getting the full blow of Reid's rage.

He was then dropped to the ground, in front of a slightly shocked Maddie.

"Baby boy, I knew that one day someone was going to mess up, but I didn't think it would be you and that you would have done it so stupidly!"

He kicked Tyler in the stomach.

"What the fuck were you thinking? Using like that in front of people!"

"Well its not as if you don't!" Tyler said, scrambling to his feet, only to be knocked down with another punch that didn't miss this time.

"Well, don't mind me." Madeline said sarcastically, still sitting by her tree, quietly observing the brawl until now.

"Who the fuck are you?" Reid spat, his eyes pitch black. "You know what, it doesn't matter. Beat it."

"Oh, of course." She said sweetly. She packed up her things, stood, and faced Reid, whom she was several inches shorter than. "Can I just say one thing before I go?"

Reid grunted in reply.

"If you're planning on hurting Tyler anymore because he apparently divulged your little secrets, then I'll have you know that it's a waste of time, not only did he not but reducing him to a pulp will not help your current situation, just like the murder of Fae Renfield doesn't stop the video she made to be publicized and your little covenant of silence consequently exposed."

She turned her heels and began to walk away, leaving the two covenant boys in total shock, one lying on the ground holding his nose that was leaking with blood, the other standing his mouth wide open.

Tyler was the first to react, scrambling to his feet and messily wiping the blood from his hands onto his coat and running after Maddie.

"Hey, wait!"

She turned around when he said that, calmly waiting for him to get close enough for her to talk to him without having to scream across campus. By the time he had gotten there Reid had run up too, the same look of shock still plastered on his face.

"What did you say?" Reid asked slowly.

"You heard me." She responded coolly. "I know about you. Deal with it." And she walked off again, and this time the two boys didn't try to follow her.


	7. Chapter 7

Caleb's initial plan of waiting until the aging problem solved itself didn't work out so well.

His originally diseased left hand had not only stayed diseased but the age had worked its way all the way until it reached his shoulder and weakened the articulations in his entire left torso. His right hand had stopped throbbing but now the pain had moved to his elbow, where the skin was already beginning to wrinkle and age.

He realized that waiting was just going to make this worse, so he skipped the rest of the school day to go look up some information about the covenant's aging. He drove all the way to their secret basement meeting place and rummaged through all the old books that laid unopened and dusty on the shelves. After an hour he had found three books, all of them with a small amount of information he could use.

He then sat back in his car, and began to read.

The first book was entitled _the history of the covenant, Ipswitch._

It told of tales of brave men that used to save others from deadly accidents and traps and that were then cursed with a body many decades older than their spirits.

No new information there.

The second, _Using_, was a simple explanation of the extent of the powers and the consequences. An entire chapter was dedicated to the aging process, detailing the way in which the aging begins to what kinds of using caused the most or least damage.

The third and final book, _The Salem Witch Trials, an Illustrated History, _was the most useless, simply telling that some of the alleged witches were accused because they looked a lot older than their age suggested.

Discouraged, Caleb sought help with the only other person he could think of that knew anything about Using and aging.

"Hello Gorman." He said quietly upon entering his ancestors' house.

"Hello Caleb." The old man replied, not looking up from the novel he was reading. "What can I do for you? You seem stressed."

"I'd like to ask you some questions." To this Gorman raised his head to look at the eighteen year old.

"I'll answer if I can." He said, putting a bookmark in his book and placing it on the table beside the armchair he was sitting in.

"What causes the aging that afflicted dad?"

"Using." Gorman raised an eyebrow. "I thought you knew this already."

"I do. I'd just like to know more specific causes."

Gorman leaned back in his chair and linked his two hands together.

"Well nowadays the reasons you have to use are quite rare. The good reasons, I mean, like saving a life or punishing a criminal. But you four are a lot more irresponsible, and the sons of Ipswitch grow more and more irresponsible with their powers as time passes by."

Caleb thought bitterly of Tyler and Fae Renfield.

"Do you mean that centuries ago people used more?"

"Oh yes. The covenant members brought it upon themselves that they should be the justice-makers. They would save the lives of the innocents that were ill, and curse the criminals that the true justice system could not punish. Most of the time they became doctors of judges, so they could manoeuvre the system more easily."

"So they aged more quickly?"

Gorman nodded.

"Yes, most of the time. Especially since curses never stopped sucking power out of you until the cursed asks for forgiveness and is granted freedom. And then the proud ones would die cursed, and it would be transmitted to a child."

"Just one?"

"Yes, just like the power, only the eldest child had a chance to be cursed, and even then it was a very small chance. A curse is like a receding gene, sometimes it appears and sometimes it doesn't, but the gene is still within the person."

"What about saving someone's life. Does that take a lot of power?"

"Not saving a life by preventing an action, like stopping a car. But stopping and destroying the murderous virus inside a body takes a lot of power yes. But not as much as killing."

"Killing?" Caleb became instantly more nervous.

"Yes. Don't worry, Chase Collins' death wasn't the kind of death that would age you by much, although the battle was quite intense, from what I've heard."

"Alright. Thanks."

"Caleb. You should not begin to age for at least twenty years, if you keep your using habits the way they were when you were younger. You shouldn't have to worry about it just yet."

"Thanks Gorman."


	8. Chapter 8

Madeline Sparrow had seemed to disappear off the face of the earth for the few following days. Tyler, Reid and Pogue spent all their free time searching for her around campus, cornering every one that knew anything about her. Three days later they had given up the normal way of finding someone. 

"I did it with Caleb when we were trying to find information about Chase." Pogue said, standing in front of the locked door of the school's records room.

"I still dunno about this."

"Chill out, baby boy. This is easy." Reid took a step forward and unlocked the door with a flick of his hand and a black twitch in his eyes. "Speaking of Caleb, where is he?"

"Sarah said he's feeling sick." Pogue said, stepping through the doorway. "Maybe its some post-ascending sickness. Like the thing we had after we turned thirteen."

"Makes sense." Tyler said, closing the door behind the three boys. "Has anyone briefed him?"

"Not yet." Reid said. "Once we find this damn girl we'll go."

The three boys unlocked the door to the records room and spent little over five minutes searching for Maddie's file.

"Got it." Pogue said triumphantly. He opened the folder and flipped through a few useless papers before starting to read.

"Madeline Juliet Stoughton-Sparrow." He began. "Born November 1rst 1989, in London, England. Her parents were Mrs Heather Stoughton-Sparrow and Mr. Henry Sparrow." He flipped to another page.

"She was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder at the age of eight, following the brutal murder of her mother by a jealous ex-boyfriend. The treatment went on until she was eleven and moved with her father to Ipswitch, Massachusetts. She attended Cavvil's school for gifted children until the age of fourteen, where she started attending Spencer Academy."

"Nothing special so far." Reid mumbled. "Except that she's a nutcase."

"She witnessed her mother's murder." Tyler snapped. "Trauma isn't a big deal."

"Wait, there's more," Pogue continued. "She was expelled from six different elementary schools, one for attacking a teacher, the other five for telling teachers off and disturbing the peace of the classroom."

"Ooh. Rebel."

"Quiet, Reid. When her mother died she apparently went hysterical, then started drawing scenes of her rape and murder, then the angry ex that killed her. Then she escalated into drawing all her classmates dead and giving them the drawings for Christmas."

"Snap."

"Then the guidance counselor, a certain Joshua Penn, came to try and talk to her but she freaked out. When he tried touching her she would bite, scratch, and hit him, all while screaming that he was a murderer. Then she started getting therapy and was home-schooled. Then she moved."

A sound echoed from far at the end of the hallway they came into. They quickly replaced the file and headed out through the other door into the pouring rain that had started while they were inside.

* * *

"So lets recap. Other than being a seriously messed child, we didn't get learn anything remotely useful from those files..."

Tyler was bouncing a ball off his bedroom wall. It would hit the floor, the wall, the floor again, then he would catch it, and restart. He had been frowning since they had returned from the record's room all the way until now, when Pogue and Reid were loudly debating over some issue or another.

"She's bluffing!" this was Pogue.

"Hell no, you weren't there, you should have seen the look in her eyes… I'm telling you she knows!" now Reid.

"There is no way she would know!"

"Fae knew, didn't she?"

"That's different!"

"It is not!"

"Is so!"

"Is not!"

"This is stupid." Tyler finally said, putting stop to the bickering. "We aren't getting anywhere just sitting here and bitching."

"You're right. But what else is there we can do?" Pogue said, sitting himself down on a chair.

"We can go look at the files again." Reid said hesitantly.

Pogue shook his head.

"We already read through them all."

"Well something in those files is the key do discovering what is up with Madeline Sparrow. We just didn't see it." Reid said.

"Well we need to find it."

"We know, Tyler."

"But that doesn't help!" Tyler was getting irritated now. He was standing, pacing around the room, squeezing the ball in his hand until it split. "We need to find something!"

Silence ensued while the three boys thought hard for a few minutes. After a long hesitant sigh, Reid started talking.

"The guidance counsellor's name rings a bell. Joshua Penn. Where did I hear that name before…"

"I know." Pogue said. "There was an article about him in the newspaper last week." He leaned back on his chair and rummaged through a pile of newspaper on the floor. He pulled out a yellowing sheet and scanned their contents briefly.

"Here it is." He began. "Joshua Penn, age 48, has been convicted of multiple counts of rape, murder and pedophilia. Over the course of the last ten years it is suspected that he abused, raped and murdered over 38 young girls, aged between 7 and 12, all of which attended the schools he worked in. He would apparently keep them after school for 'help', rape them, call their parents to let them know their daughter was on her way, then rape the little girl some more and kill her. He never admitted to the location of the bodies."

"… Didn't Maddie accuse him of being a murderer?"

"Yeah…"

"We need to get to those files."

The trip was much shorter this time around.

The three merely snuck in and photocopied the entire file, then headed back to Reid and Tyler's dorm.

"Snap. Look at these drawings. They're pretty intense."

Pogue looked over Reid's shoulder at one of the sketches the psychiatrist she was seeing kept. It was gruesomely detailed, for the work of an eight year old, and depicted a small blond girl curled up in the corner of a room, crying and soaked in blood, while a large dark shadow loomed over her with the shine of a knife in his hand. At the bottom of the paper was written in blockish child-like letters _Merry Chrismas Laura D._

"Well, she does have a certain talent for drawing, although these are a bit too creepy for any art expo I know that shows the works of children. Wanna see, Tyler?"

"No thanks." He replied to Pogue.

"What are you looking for anyways?"

"Evidence, Reid."

Tyler was at the computer, searching for information about Joshua Penn on the internet. After a few minutes he stopped clicking and typing madly and read the webpage.

"Pogue, read me the names that the drawings have on them."

"Alrighty. Jessica, Lorraine, Kimmy, Laura D, Laura F, Jenny, Beverly and Jas."

"Well then. Listen to this: Jessica Digiovani, Lorraine King, Kimberly Monta, Laura Donnelly, Laura Finlan, Jennifer Jackson, Beverly Silver and Jasmine Prince. Not in that specific order."

"Who are they?" Reid rolled over to the computer on his wheeled chair. He peered at the screen.

"Eight of the thirty-eight victims." Tyler said with a satisfied smirk.


	9. Chapter 9

"What can I do for you, Tyler Sims?" 

Anastasia Siward was standing in the doorway of the dorm she shared with Maddie, dressed in nothing but a big black v-neck t-shirt and a pair of red boxers with skulls on them. Her long hair was messy and her brilliant blue eyes were smoky with black makeup surrounding them.

_H-O-T _mouthed Reid at Pogue. He silently nodded in agreement.

"I'm – we're looking for Maddie." Tyler said, resisting the urge to stare at her long legs.

"Well I'm afraid she isn't here at the moment. She should be back soon." She purred, surrounding the three in her cigarette-and-sweetness breath. "I would offer to let the three of you stay here until she arrives, but I have to get prepared for an outing… You can stay if you don't mind me getting ready…"

"We don't mind." Reid said firmly.

Anastasia smiled wickedly.

"Good."

She turned around and walked into her dorm, picking up a tube of dark lipstick lying forgotten on one of the beds.

"Make yourselves at home." She said while applying it in a mirror. She then dropped it, bent over and picked it up, lingering in the position while she looked for something else. Reid was sweating by the time she was standing again. She looked over her shoulder and gave him a very seductive look. _H-O-T _he mouthed again when she turned around.

"So why do you need to see Maddie?" Anastasia asked from another room.

"Um." Tyler rummaged through his pockets to take from them the gloves he had received from Maddie. "I want to return the gloves she lent me."

"Couldn't you just leave them with me?"

"Um, I wanted to thank her personally."

"So why are the other two here?"

"Uh…"

Before Tyler had to resort to another lie the door to the dorm opened and a voice called from outside.

"Anastasia Siward, never again am I going to run errands for you."

A bag full of something was thrown and Ana caught it dead on.

"Thanks Mads."

"You're very much welcome. Did you know I had to go to six different places to find just one of those? And then the other four kinds… another six stores. And this cash lady at one was looking at me like she wanted to slap me, and this other guy as if I was the biggest slut in the world and wanted to sleep with me-"

Maddie entered and interrupted herself when she saw the three boys. She looked mildly shocked for a second then composed herself.

"Maddie we need to talk to you." Tyler said nervously.

"I'm sure you do." She said absent-mindedly, handing another bag over to Anastasia.

"No, this is really really serious."

"I don't see how thanking her for a pair of gloves can be considered really really serious…" she read the back of one of the boxes that were in the bag. "Do you three prefer tropical or banana, condom-wise?"

"banana definitely." Reid said with a grin.

Ana gave him a come-hither look before being interrupted by Maddie.

"Well if its that important, lets go somewhere and you can tell me."

"We aren't going anywhere." Pogue said firmly. "Until you tell us what's going on."

Anastasia dropped another box and bent over to pick it up. She was now dressed in a black mini-dress so her legs were even more exposed when she bent over. She stood back up and read briefly the wrapping.

"ooh. What about strawberry?" she asked Reid in a seductive voice. He gulped. She looked at Pogue, Tyler and Maddie. "Don't mind me…" she said sweetly with a smile.

Pogue sighed.

"Fine, lets go out." He said. "But no fooling around, no attempted escapes."

"Yes sir." She said mockingly, waltzing out the door gracefully. Pogue and Tyler rose to follow her, Reid still sitting.

"Uh, I'm gonna stay here, y'now, just to make sure Anastasia doesn't try to do anything…" he was lost for words.

"Naughty?" Ana finished for him. He nodded briskly.

"Whatever." Pogue mumbled. He and Tyler head out, closed to door behind them and stared at the empty hallway.

"Shit!" Pogue swore loudly. He punched the wall closest to him, leaving a deep fist-shaped hole. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!" He punched the wall again.

"Now isn't that a mighty punch." A singsong voice said from beside them. "You aren't that clever, are you? Giving me a whole minute alone, outside. I could have easily made a run for it, filed a harassment suit and whatnot." Maddie stopped leaning in the doorway of one of the nearby rooms. Pogue was furious.

"Lets get moving. Now." He hissed at her. She shrugged, followed him on his way out with Tyler.

* * *

_wheeeeeeee_

_1000 views_

_thanks to everyone who reviews!_


	10. Chapter 10

The library was open but deserted at nine o'clock Friday night. The librarian abandoned her post long ago, and firmly believed that no student would sink low enough to steal any of the books, and if they did there was the alarm that would go off when a book passed through the door.

So the three of them, Pogue, Tyler and Maddie, sat at a square table in the middle of the library piled high with books, Maddie on one side and the two boys on the other, interrogation style. No one said anything for a long time, so Madeline resorted to reading one of the books at the top of the pile. Pogue, irritated, broke the silence.

"We know there's something going on with you."

Maddie barely looked up from the book she was reading.

"It certainly seems so." She flipped a page. "Care to elaborate?"

"First of all." Tyler started nervously. "You got really scared in bio-"

"Explainable." She interrupted.

"Then you told me that I would regret going to meet Fae. Which I did."

"Again, explainable."

"Then you told us you knew about us and the Covenant."

"Do I need to repeat myself?" She looked up from her book. "You technically don't have any information whatsoever that proves whatever theory you have. At the moment I'm just paranoid, logical and curious. Which isn't that special." She returned to her reading.

"What about your classmates?" Pogue said triumphantly.

"What about them?" Maddie was barely fazed.

"Jessica Digiovani, Lorraine King, Kimberly Monta, Laura Donnelly, Laura Finlan, Jennifer Jackson, Beverly Silver and Jasmine Prince… Any of these names ring any bells?"

For the first time she looked genuinely shocked.

"Isn't there some sort of rule against looking through someone's personal files?"

"That's besides the point." Tyler continued. "The point is you correctly predicted and accurately illustrated the deaths of your classmates, and identified the murderer."

"I did?"

"Joshua Penn was arrested last week."

Her eyes widened again and a satisfied smile formed on her face.

"Was about time." She whispered.

"Pardon?" Pogue said.

"It was about time that that low-life good for nothing bastard was caught. All the pain he put those girls through. I'm surprised he didn't get the chair."

"How do you know he didn't get the chair?" Pogue said with a triumphant grin.

Maddie rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair. She stared at the two boys long and hard for a long time.

"You aren't stupid. Figure it out." She spat out eventually. And she didn't say a word for another half hour. Pogue was fuming, his brain working hard at figuring out everything. After thirty minutes something clicked and he exclaimed:

"You're psychic!" it was more a statement than an answer.

"Nope." She continued reading. "Think harder, pretty boy, you can get this."

Another fifteen minutes passed, until Tyler finally spoke up in a small, unsure voice.

"You can see death?"

"See, I knew you weren't dumb." She flashed him a radiant smile.

"What do you mean, you can see death? Isn't that being psychic?"

"Nope." She placed the book down on the table.

"Explain it then." Tyler said, all giddy from finding the right answer, even if it creeped him out a little. Maddie took a deep breath, and started talking like she was telling a story.

"Once upon a time there lived a girl, and this girl had a peculiar if not downright bizarre trait that was unique to her and that no one else possessed or understood. The trait consisted of what they liked to call the 'second sight', although it was a lot less romantic than the name let it sound."

"Get to the point."

"Patience, Pogue. Anyways, this oddity consisted that the girl, once she had his first encounter with death, started seeing visions of the deaths of those around her. They weren't really visions since they were always dead-on, no pun intended, but you get the point."

"But how does it-"

"I said patience, Pogue. How it works is that from the moment the girl's skin comes in contact with another person's shee will see the last moments of this person's life, from the point of view of an omnipresent super-being, suspected to be God by the more religious. So this one girl that has been seeing her friends die since the tender age of eight arrives at biology class one day in high school and her hand touches the hand of another person. The odd thing is that she didn't see a thing, no vision, no death, nothing at all when she touched this boy."

"Me?"

"Yes, yes. So upon further experiments she notices that two of the three boys this one hangs out with don't have a reaction with her second sight at all. Which makes her curious, and subsequently she does a little research and finds out some dark, dark secrets that they have been hiding for quite some time. Oh, and she also saved the incriminating tape."

She dropped a tape from her pocket onto the table, marked _incriminating/__Magic/TylerSims _with a white post it note. Pogue snatched it before Tyler could and stuffed it in his inside coat pocket.

"And they lived happily ever after." She finished. "You can ask questions now if you want."

"Ok, when did this start, where did it come from and why?"

"Don't know. For either of them."

"Why do you think you can't… um see us?" Tyler asked.

"No idea. If I knew I wouldn't have freaked out so bad." She smiled weakly. "Sorry for scaring you like that. It really wasn't you."

"Not yet at least." Pogue said seriously. "There's something going on here. Something that links the Covenant with you. And there's only one person who can figure out what it is."

"Caleb Danvers." Tyler finished.

"Caleb Danvers?" Maddie frowned. "I haven't met him, have I?"

"No. We would have introduced you when we met you a few days ago, but he's been home all this time. I guess he's feeling sick about killing Chase."

Maddie's eyes widened.

"Chase? Chase Collins?"

"The one and only" Tyler said grimly. "Good thing we killed him, he would have done some terrible shit if he knew about you."

Maddie looked down into her lap, and wrung her hands together.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news." She said in a quiet, whisper-like voice. "But I'm afraid that Chase Collins is not dead."


	11. Chapter 11

"So lets get this straight. Chase isn't dead?"

"I'm afraid so." Maddie said nervously.

Tyler, Maddie and Pogue were sitting in Caleb's living room, each with a cup of strong, black, coffee. Caleb had reacted very badly at the news of Chase's survival, his face losing all its colour and his eyes widening. His hand started shaking and he spilt half his coffee. He hadn't even asked how and why Maddie was so sure of it, he just assimilated the news.

"How is that possible?" he blurted out.

"We don't know." Pogue said. "But..." He glanced meaningfully at Maddie. "We know its true."

"How?"

And with a sigh Pogue explained the situation, occasionally punctuated with Maddie's corrections. After a long silence, Caleb spoke up again, in a tired, broken voice.

"So what do we do?"

"We find him. And kill him for good." Pogue said firmly. Tyler nodded in fierce agreement. Maddie didn't react. Tyler noticed.

"You ok?"

"Fine." She said.

"Are you sure?"

"No, not really."

"And why is this?" Caleb asked.

"Because I'm sitting here listening to three guys I barely know discuss and plan the murder of another guy I barely know. And they don't seem fazed at all."

"Should we be?" Pogue said.

"Yeah, you should. You have no reason to trust me." She finished blatantly.

Caleb leaned in closer, rested his forearms on his knees while he gave her a particularly adorable serious pleading look.

"We trust you because you can't see us dying. That's something that defines you, and it links you to us whether we want it or not. And you helped us by taking away Chase's element of surprise. Its only fair we include you in our plans."

"Or is it just the idea of causing someone's death making you nervous?" Pogue asked, leaning into a similar position as Caleb. Maddie laughed bitterly.

"Technically everything I do causes someone's death. Or my lack of doing. People die either way, whether I help or not."

"You believe in fate then?" Tyler asked.

"I'm fate incarnated." She said bitterly, taking a long draught from her coffee mug. "What worries me is that you guys are going to get killed in the process."

"Well, why should this girl we barely know worry about us being killed?" Pogue mused mockingly. Maddie glared at him.

"Look. I've been seeing death since I've been eight years old. I'm pretty much dead myself. So when I meet, for the first time ever, a foursome who's deaths are unknown to me, I get a little attached." She took another sip of her coffee. "In a sense, you four are the only _live _people I have ever met. Everyone else is dead already."

"Whoa, that's deep." Pogue said. "That makes sense. But don't worry, we can take care of ourselves."

"Believe us, Madeline." Caleb said slowly. "We should be the least of your worries."

He stood up and stretched.

"Well. I think that we all need a good night's sleep to think this over. Tomorrow morning our minds will be healthy, or thoughts renewed. We'll meet to discuss. With Reid. Why could'nt he come again?"

"He was busy." Maddie said. Caleb raised an eyebrow but shrugged.

"Whatever. So get some sleep, and we'll talk about this tomorrow."

The four stood, left their mugs on a coffee table and shuffled towards the door. Pogue head for the garage while Tyler went towards his truck.

"You don't want a lift, Pogue?"

"Nah, I left my bike here last week, I've been meaning to take it back to my place."

"Suit yourself." Tyler shrugged. He turned to Maddie, who was standing on the front steps looking at the full moon. "Need a ride? I'm going back to the dorms anyways?"

Maddie smiled.

"Sure."


	12. Chapter 12

"Tell me what the weirdest thing about you is?"

"Excuse me?"

"Its what I do." Tyler said. "I find out the oddest things from all the people I know."

Maddie looked at him curiously, then out the open car window behind him. She then flicked her attention back to her bare hands on her knees.

"Only if you tell me something in return. A question for a question, an answer for an answer."

"Fair enough."

"This has to be the first time in nine years I've spent a day without wearing gloves."

Tyler laughed. He reached his right arm over and picked up her delicate pale hand.

"You have nice hands." He said with a laugh. Maddie pulled away with a mock look of offense.

"Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel, smart-ass. Now your turn. Whats something weird about you?"

"Well, else than being able to use magic and stuff… I'm allergic to silver, if that's weird."

"Silver?"

"Yes ma'am."

"You sure you don't have any werewolf blood mixed in with the warlock?"

"I dunno, but if I do you better watch out, it's a full moon tonight." He then growled and snapped at her with his teeth. Maddie laughed and made a cross with two fingers. They both laughed.

"My turn, and I'm sure you've seen this one coming."

"Hmm you never know."

"What is it like?"

"Pardon?"

"Seeing people, well, die."

Maddie sighed, as if she knew this question was going to be asked at some point or another. She fiddled with a ring on her finger for a moment before turning to face Tyler.

"Its hard to explain."

"Can you try?"

"Its… weird. You can be anywhere, at anytime doing anything, but as soon as you – well, as soon as I touch anyone its like the whole world fades away for an instant, and then suddenly you snap back to reality and the moment is in your head. As if the death had already happened and you witnessed it, and this time you were just recalling a memory"

"A very detailed memory?"

"Pretty detailed. You read the file on Penn, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's a good example. If I witnessed another murder, for example, I would see it all happen, but the murderer would be a blur. But if I had previously met said murderer I would see that it was him. Or if I met the murderer later the memory would resurface with a face on the shadow that was the killer."

Tyler simply nodded and the two sat in the truck in silence while it rolled on the deserted streets. After five minutes of silence they left the suburbs and got onto the highway.

"You wanna see something cool?" He said with an unhealthy grin on his face.

"Depends."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Tyler slammed his foot on the accelerator, the truck lurching forward and then speeding up until it largely passed the speed limit.

"Tyler Sims, are you sane?" Maddie asked, a bit nervously.

"Not entirely." He said with a Reid-like grin. "But that doesn't matter now. Hold on tight."

At the speed the car was going Maddie could see the portion of the highway that was out and being rebuilt, a huge, gaping section of the road that was nothing but thin air. Tyler had known it was there all along.

"No fucking way." She said in a whisper. "Don't you dare." She said louder.

"Too late."

Tyler's eyes went pitch black, and with one last slam on the accelerator the truck burst through the yellow caution tape, knocked over the safety barriers and flew off the road, onto nothingness. Maddie let out a strangled cry as the weight of the road disappeared and the car glided effortlessly. Thirty seconds later it landed with a thump.

"You ok?" He asked, laughing, to Maddie, who seemed a bit shaken. He stopped the car on the side of the road when she didn't respond. "Hello… Maddie?"

She didn't say anything for a long time.

Then she started laughing hysterically.

"What the hell was that?" she had tears welling at the corners of her eyes from her laughter. "Don't. You. Dare. Do anything like that ever again! Ever!"

"You didn't like it?" Tyler said in a mockingly hurt voice. "But why are you laughing?"

Maddie choked and stopped laughing, giving him a particularly evil glare that lasted about a second before she smiled.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"Magic." Tyler said with a grin, starting up the car.


	13. Chapter 13

"I have a question."

"Shoot."

"What is up with your roomie and hitting on Reid?"

Maddie snorted. Tyler had parked his truck, accepted the (surprisingly painful) punch that Maddie gave him for doing the stupid flying-over-nothing trick, and was now walking her to her dorm room, since he really didn't have anything better to do.

"Ana is horny as hell. She's been looking around for a nice piece of male to sink her claws into for a while. She was going out hunting tonight, but she found Reid beforehand."

"Ok, but why Reid."

"He's single, he's hot." She said blatantly. "And you wouldn't have slept with Anastasia even if she had stripped down to, well, nothing."

"Since when do you know me so well?"

"Ok, I admit it." Maddie said dramatically. "I can actually read minds!"

At Tyler's genuinely shocked expression she couldn't help but laugh.

They arrived in front of number 22, Maddie and Anastasia's dorm after a few more minutes of idle chitchat. When they got there Maddie opened the door an inch and knocked on it loudly.

"Ana." She said loudly through the crack. "Are you decent?"

Someone swore and tripped over something, someone else got up, shuffled to another room and rummaged through some fabric. Maddie patiented a minute before yelling again.

"Ana!"

"Just a minute." Ana said breathlessly. She soon appeared and opened the door wide, dressed in a large baggy shirt with nothing underneath. Her hair was messy, her makeup smudged and had an immense look of satisfaction on her face. "Welcome back."

Her breath smelled faintly of strawberries.

"Yeah, yeah." Maddie walked into her dorm and evaluated the mess level. The couch was destroyed, all the pillows lying everywhere, the curtains were ripped, the carpet was wet, the floor was stained with something milky and green, the walls had uneven bumps and crevasses in them and around the room was strewn various condoms, in or out of their wrappers. Reid was in a corner trying to zip up his pants.

"Gross. Open the window, will you?" Maddie asked Tyler, who happened to be standing right beside it. He opened the window and let a cool breath of winter air in. He noticed the five long scratches in each curtain.

Maddie grabbed a broom from under a couch pillow, brushed the black silk panties off of it and handed it to Reid. He glared at her in protest.

"Those are the rules. If you're still here when I get back, you're stuck cleaning up."

She gave him the broom and head to another room, stepping over a stained pillow on her way.

"Coffee, Tyler?"

"Sure. All this coffee won't help me sleep tonight, Caleb will be disappointed."

"Who wants to sleep on a Friday night?" Ana whispered naughtily into his ear "there are so many other things you could _do_…"she glanced meaningfully in the direction of her roommate. Tyler didn't reply and just headed to join Maddie.

"You used the ice cream too?" She whined, looking through the freezer. "You're terrible!" She threw the empty carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream into the recycling bin. "I won't ever be able to see the stuff without thinking about you two!"

She slammed the freezer and removed a kettle from a cupboard, filling it up with water. She then found a mop in another cupboard and walked into the living room to give it to Reid. By then the water had boiled and she rummaged through another cupboard to find coffee.

"No coffee, sorry. I have tea though."

"Tea's fine. I haven't had a cup of tea since I was maybe six."

"Why is that?" Maddie asked while pouring the boiling water into a teapot.

"Because back then my family could still be considered a family and I would attend the tea parties that my cousin would throw. Since then my mom moved away, my aunt died and my cousin doesn't even remember my name."

"Oh, the tragedies that fate must bring upon us through time." She said, without a trace of mockery in her voice. She poured him a cup of tea. "Jasmine." She said. "Its good for you."

"Thanks." He took a long sip, burnt his tongue and didn't say anything.

* * *

"Fuck, that girl Ana is HOT!" Reid said.

He and Tyler were walking to their own dorms. Reid's hair was messed up, his shirt on backwards and he couldn't find his belt. It has been, as he had said, a good night.

"Go figure." Tyler said. "Why exactly do you go around getting laid all the time? We had an important meeting."

"What can I say?" he shrugged his shoulders exaggeratedly. "The ladies just crave me. And besides, there's nothing in a meeting that can't be recalled later. So fill me in, baby boy."

The explanations had lasted until they reached their own dorm, opened the door and gotten themselves into bed. By now it was 1am, and they were both exhausted.

"That's some freaky shit." Reid said. "So what are we gonna do to kill Chase?"

"We should find him first. That might help."

* * *

_only about 16 people out of the 1900-something hits that ive gotten on this story have reviewed._

_tears. lots of them._

_i cant even put into words how much the reviews mean to me. all the writers that are reading this and that know the feeling you get when someone says something as simple as "i like this, please write more" about a story youve poured your heart into then please understand that the reviews that i get mean the world to me, even more than the story itself does._

_so please_

_pretty pretty pretty please_

_spend thirty-four seconds of your life making my day by writing a few words about my story_

_i'll bake you cookies if you do. sunshine cookies of love and joy and peace and fun._


	14. Chapter 14

Saturday was the day where every student in Spencer would sleep in until afternoon. 

Because each clique and cliché had their own parties to attend to. Even the nerds, geeks, stoners or skaters. Every student was out until the early hours of the morning, so the day off was greeted with sleep until 2pm.

That's exactly what happened this Saturday, despite Caleb's instructions of meeting at noon. So instead they all met at three at Nicky's, all four members of the covenant being present in front of Maddie for the first time ever.

Crowded around a plate of nachos, they all began to speak one at a time.

"Anyone particularly inspired by their night's sleep?" Caleb began.

"No."

"Nope."

"I wish."

"Sorry."

"Me neither." He sighed, and ate a nacho dripping with cheese.

"Well we can first try to figure out how he survived." Pogue suggested. "We can do this by examining Putnam barn, or what's left of it. I volunteer."

"We'll get more results if we all go. Ten eyes are better than just two." Tyler added.

"That's true. So we will all go dig through Putnam barn to find any clues to Chase's disappearance." Caleb said.

"Speaking of disappearance, has any one else wondered how the hell he has managed to go undetected for almost six months? I mean he was such an addicted user, how can he stand not using for so long? We would have felt even the slightest use of his power."

"Good question Reid. How can he stay hidden?"

"We wont know until we find him" Pogue said to Caleb. "The only thing we can do now is find out how he survived."

"Right." Tyler said. "So lets get moving. The sooner we examine Putnam barn the sooner we figure something out."

The four boys all stood and started walking out when Maddie spoke up.

"But why is he hiding?" she said. "He must have a reason behind this."

"Killing us." Reid said.

"Then why wait six months? If he returned a week after you would have been just as defenseless. Why wait and give you time to find out he's alive?"

"Because…" Caleb's voice trailed off, clearly because he couldn't think of any answer.

"Don't you think he might be baiting you into some trap?"

"How can he do that?" Pogue asked.

"The same way he survived Caleb's attack. And we don't know what it is." Tyler said quietly.

"Then what do we do? We _need _to check Putnam barn, but we can't because it might be a trap."

After a long moment of heavy silence, four pairs of eyes lingered towards a certain someone in the room. That person blinked, sighed, and in a reluctant voice agreed to whatever plan the sons of Ipswich had.

* * *

"This is dumb" Maddie hissed.

"Of course it is." Pogue's voice said through the small earpiece she was wearing underneath all her blonde hair. "But its also useful."

Maddie sighed, and resumed walking amongst the debris of Putnam barn. The pillars were blackened and sprawled broken all over the icy ground. Grass had greyed and frozen into place, rocks and broken tree branches littered the ground and a thin layer of hay coated the ground that used to be inside the barn. It was now a patch of yellowed ground in the middle of blackened ruins.

"What do you see?" It was Pogue's voice again.

"Tree branches, rocks, hay, snow, ice, ash… all what you'd expect where a fire once was."

"There has to be something. Look harder."

Maddie growled and climbed over a large pillar, into the debris of the barn. She tread carefully over the ice and ash-covered wood, coughing now and then and exhaling a cloud of steam. She nearly stepped on a dead frozen rat, narrowly avoiding it and instead slipping on a patch of ice and landing on her butt on a piece of cold, hard wood. She cursed.

"What?" Pogue was worried slightly.

"I avoided a dead rodent and fell on my ass. Nothing important."

She resumed her search, lifting up with difficulty a large piece of wood that used to be the second floor of the barn. She coughed when a cloud of ashes greeted her. She blowed the black dust away and peered curiously at the things under the large wood.

"How long do you think a family of mice could survive in this weather?"

"Not very long." Caleb answered this time, his voice slightly metallic. "Maybe a month, no, three weeks."

"Hm." Maddie mused.

Under the plank of charred wood was a nest made of non-frosted hay, dirt, green grass and twigs. A foursome of baby mice were looking up at her curiously from a patch of ground, and a larger mouse, presumably the mother, was scampering over to the nest to defend her babies. She bared her teeth and glared at Maddie when she approached. Then her and her four children escaped to the bottom of the nest. Maddie placed a finger of the patch of ground they were standing on moments before. It was warm. With her finger she dug a little hole, and found that the warmth was constant though the ground.

She stood up and found the piece of wood that she had lifted before. The side that faced the outside was black and cold, whereas the side that was facing the ground wasn't burned and was considerable warm.

"I think I found something…" She said triumphantly, replacing the piece of wood in its original position. She turned around to walk towards the road when she bumped into someone and nearly screamed.

"Who are you?" the old man's hoarse voice asked when Maddie had recovered.

"No one special." She blurted out. "I'm about to leave now, so um-"

"Why are you here?" He sounded angry now.

"Uh, no reason, just, um exploring!"

He grabbed onto her arm a bit roughly for a man his age.

"You're coming with me." He hissed angrily.

"Caleb!" Maddie said, panicking. "Pogue! Reid! Tyler… help!"

Hearing those names called out the man stopped and stared at Maddie, still not relinquishing her arm.

"Sons of Ipswich?" he asked slowly, as if giving he a cryptic code.

"Covenant." She replied shakily, trying to pry the fingers off her arm. The man nodded apprehensively, and let go of her.

"Forgive me." The man said. "My name is Gorman. I am a friend of Caleb Danvers. Did he send you here?"

"Him and the other three." She said nervously. "I'm Madeline Sparrow. A friend of theirs too."

They shook hands briefly.

"How is it that you know their secret."

"Long story."

She explained the story quickly, summarizing the last few days for Gorman. He nodded slowly when she finished.

"And you have no idea where the powers came from?"

"No."

"Does anyone else in your family have them?"

"Not that I know of. My mother died when I was eight and right before they started manifesting themselves, and I don't talk to my father much."

"You should try to find out. It might help discovering what they are." He looked around. "Why did they send you here?"

"Chase Collins is alive. We think he's planning some kind of trap. So they sent me because when he was in Spencer I didn't have any relation to either of them. And Chase isn't stupid enough to set a trap that will affect everyone."

"I see. Found anything suspicious?"

"Actually, I did." She marched over to the mouse nest. "The ground underneath this plank of wood hasn't changed for the winter. It still grows grass, is still warm and hasn't burnt like the rest of this place."

Gorman took a look at it for himself. While he was examining it Tyler's panicked voice came through the earpiece.

"Maddie! What happened? Reid dropped the transmitter and we couldn't say anything! Are you alright?"

"Fine." She said. "I just met Gorman. He gave me quite a scare though."

Tyler sighed audibly through the transmitter.

"Find anything?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'll brief you guys when I get back."

Gorman had finished examining the odd spot of earth and was walking back towards Maddie, frowning.

"That is most certainly a spell." He said. "A very powerful one too. Its definitely Chase's work. He must have cast a spell over this ground to protect him until it was safe to escape the barn. Then when the fire died and the police left he had plenty of time to escape."

Maddie observed the scenery in silence for a moment.

"Have you wondered why you can't see the boys' deaths?" Gorman asked.

"Yeah. No answer so far."

" I could do some research if you want." Gorman said. "I have a lot of free time on my hands, and many resources."

"You would do that?" Maddie smiled. "That would be amazing. Thank you."

"I need your mother and your father's name. It would help."

"Alright. My dad is William Sparrow and my mum is Elizabeth Stoughton. They were both born in London, England."

"That will do." Gorman shuffled towards his truck, parked near the barn. "I will let you or one of the boys know if I find something. Until then, good day miss Madeline."

He got into his truck and drove away. Madeline looked around for another few minutes, then started walking back to where the boys had parked Tyler's truck.

* * *

_Chapter 14, like i promised!_

_Enjoy, and keep those reviews coming!_


	15. Chapter 15

"So he cast a spell, hid within it and waited for it all to blow over." Reid asked 

"Yeah, pretty much." Maddie said. "At least according to Gorman."

Caleb started pacing around his living room, pulling on the sleeves of his long-sleeved shirt.

"Well at least now we know how he escaped." He said. "Although this doesn't help our situation."

"Yeah it does." Tyler said. Everyone looked at him oddly. He sighed, although pleased that for once he had the brilliant idea that no one else did.

"Remember when our dads were still around to explain this shit to us? Well my dad used to say that spells were the things that sucked up the most power, else than curses. And they just kept sucking power until they were released. Well Chase cast his spell almost six months ago and its still in effect, which means its still sucking power so he's aging abnormally fast." He had a satisfied smirk on his face. "Which means he's going to want to get to us as soon as possible."

"Which still doesn't help." Reid said flatly.

"It gives us a time frame." Pogue said helpfully. "And a motive. And a clue that we aren't looking for the Chase we knew, were looking for a way older one. Which means he can't be hiding in school unless he poses as a new prof."

"Not likely." Caleb said. "And we would have noticed. No, Tyler and Pogue are right. This is helpful. We know that he will try approaching us out of school, and he'll look older. That's a big step." He stopped pacing and sat down on a couch beside Maddie. "Lets let it go for the rest of the weekend. We'll talk more Monday."

"Sounds like a plan." Pogue said. They all rose. "Everyone is still up for the party at Nicky's tomorrow?"

"Party?" Maddie asked.

"More of a get-together." Reid said. "We eat, dance, and play pool. Nothing much. Interested in attending?"

She smiled sadly.

"Yeah, but I'm busy with my dad tomorrow. Maybe some other time?"

"Of course. We have these like once a week, and you aren't missing the next one." Reid said with a grin.

"Promise." She said. She turned to Tyler. "Feel like giving me a ride again?"

* * *

"Why don't you talk to your dad anymore?"

"Who told you that?"

"When Reid dropped the transmitter we couldn't reply but we could still hear you. You said it yourself, _I don't talk to my dad much._ So why not?"

Maddie glared at him.

"Curiosity killed the cat." She spat at him.

"But satisfaction brought him back." He grinned.

"Lets just say that the reason I don't talk to my dad is the same reason why I stay in the dorms instead of at my house."

"Which is…"

She glared at him again.

Tyler knew better than to poke and prod at subjects people didn't like to talk about, but he felt that Maddie needed to get all these secrets out. They were weighing her down, making bags under her light grey eyes and keeping her from sleeping at night.

And besides, he was naturally curious.

"Maddie, come on. I bet you haven't told this to anyone ever before. And the secret is just dying to get out."

"So…"

"Trust me, Madeline Sparrow."

After a moment of silence she sighed, then gave in.

"Do you know what multiple personality syndrome is?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what borderline personality syndrome is?"

"…No."

"Its when two different personalities inhabit a single body, except one is a fully grown and mature adult personality and the other is a child."

"And your dad is?"

"Borderline, yes. It started manifesting slightly when my mum died, but intensified until it was impossible to control just with a shrink appointment now and then. That's actually why we moved here, because the psychiatric hospital has a whole study about bordeline syndrome. He moved into the hospital when I was fourteen, which was why I moved into the dorms at Spencer because there was no way in hell a fourteen year old was going to live by herself."

They both stayed silent for a moment, the only sound being the gentle rumbling of the truck on the road. Tyler wished there was a bridge he could jump to loosen the tension.

"My mom's suicidal." He said rather loudly after a long pause. "My dad hasn't seen me in two years. Half my family doesn't know my name. The other half wants me dead"

"Does the cat feel like he has to tell the secret that is just dying to get out?" She said quietly, with a sad smile.

"He thinks of it as a way of thanking satisfaction." Tyler said. And they didn't bring up the subject again, staying silent until they reached the school dormitories.

As Maddie stepped out the car on the passenger's side she glanced over at Tyler.

"You aren't coming?"

"No, I'm going to go visit my mum first. I feel a bit nostalgic."

"Alright. Bye, thanks again for the ride."

"No problem."

As she walked away Tyler's emotions sprung into action before his mind power did.

"Maddie!"

She turned around, questioningly.

"There's the winter formal that's um, soon, and incase we need to see if um, Chase comes maybe we could go undercover… together… just in case he shows up…" he fumbled with his words, mentally slapping himself.

"Sounds good." Maddie said with a smile. "When is it again?"

"Two weeks."

"I'd love to go to the winter formal undercover with you." She giggled a bit nervously. "But I need to go now. Bye!"

And she walked away.

Tyler sat in the truck in awe for a full five minutes before driiving off.

* * *

_I could have sword i had enabled anonymous reviews .._


	16. Chapter 16

Monday morning Pogue, Reid and Tyler all met up with Caleb in biology class. He had skipped the swim meet, complaining of a bad cold, and had grudgingly shown up to school, simply to catch up with whatever he had missed. He was looking run down and in a particularly foul mood when class started.

"'Morning." Maddie said as she slid by the foursome into her usual seat, seconds before the teacher entered and class started. Tyler looked back at her while the teacher was blabbering and grinned. She looked at him curiously and smiled back eventually.

"Mr Sims, care to repeat what I just said?" The teacher snapped. Tyler once again faced the teacher, and flushed as he fumbled with his words.

"Um, you were just saying how… um…"

"We have a new student joining us today." HE finished. "thank you for so kindly voulenteering to show her around for the duration of the day."

Tyler groaned and leaned back into his seat. Reid snickered and Pogue gave him a cocky I-knew-it grin.

"What?" Tyler hissed.

"You liiiike her." Reid said with a cocky grin.

"I-what?"

"Maddie. You liiike her, you wanna huuug her, you wanna kiiiiss her, you wanna loooove her, you wanna f-"

"Garwin!"

"Sorry sir."

He settled back into his seat, still smirking the awful smirk at Tyler. Tyler glared at him.

"I do not." He said.

It was a childish thing to do really. He and Reid and Pogue and probably Caleb, if he stopped sulking for a moment, all knew that he liked Maddie a lot. And he was just publicly denying that fact just like all the ten year olds at elementary schools did.

The teacher droned on for an hour about the properties of the human brain cell and when the bell rang announcing all the students groaned in relief as they started to pack up their things and rush out the door.

Tyler, intent on catching a certain someone at the exit, moved faster than usual, consequently becoming more clumsy and almost as soon as he stood and took a few steps he crashed into someone. Books fell to the floor with a thump as Tyler mentally groaned (not again!) and Reid snickered.

"I am so sorry." He said as he kneeled down and started picking up the books.

"Its ok, really. I was in a hurry, I wasn't watching where I was going." A sweet sing-song voice said. A wisp of long brown hair brushed in front of Tyler's face and he sniffed a scent of fruity perfume. A delicate, slender girl's hand brushed against his as they reached for the same book and the two hands paused for a second upon contact. Then the girl he had bumped into nervously giggled and stood.

Once Tyler had stood he could see that the girl was very beautiful. She had long straight light brown hair that fell a bit past her shoulders and large honey-coloured eyes framed by dark lashes and green eye makeup. Her skin was tanned lightly and blush coloured her cheeks.

"Again, sorry." He said, in a daze. The girl looked up at him sheepishly.

"It wasn't your fault, I was just being careless. Thanks for helping me pick up my books."

"Youre welcome, its my pleasure. I'm Tyler Sims, I don't think I've ever seen you around here before…"

"You haven't." The girl smiled sweetly and shook his hand. "My name is Clea, I just transferred in. I'm the new student the teacher was talking about."

"The one I have to show around?" he was mildly shocked, but pleased nonetheless.

"You don't have to. I'll manage by myself." Clea smiled.

"No, I'd feel really bad if I didn't. What class do you have next, I'll walk you there."

"English, and you really don't have to."

"Don't worry, it would be my pleasure to."

* * *

Clea Nischols was her name, and she had just transferred from an obscurely small school in the north of England. She was turning eighteen in a month, her favorite subject was English Creative Writing, she loved James Bond, Hercule Poirot and took her coffee black with sugar, shaken, not stirred.

Tyler found all of this out because after the Calculus class they had together they both had a free period and he asked her out for coffee and the occasion to show her around some more. She happily agreed, and the two had hit it off chatting in the small coffee show by the campus, where merely a week before Tyler had met Fae Renfield and he and the Covenant had risked total exposure.

"Youre kidding!"

"I swear on my mother's grave I'm not!"

"He actually _threw up_ on Aaron?"

Tyler was describing to her the various people she could meet at Spencer. And to prove his point about how awful Aaron Abbott was he recalled the occasion when one of his companions threw up on him.

"He did."

"Oh my God!" Clea laughed.

He liked her laugh; it was light and musical, like a wind chime.

He grinned and took a sip of his coffee. She did the same, still laughing lightly at the tale of Aaron's most embarrassing moment.

"Anyone else I should know about?"

"Well, I've told you of Caleb, Pogue, Reid, Sarah, Kate, Aaron, Kira, Chase (he had mentioned Chase to avoid suspicion if she found out from anyone else,) Anastasia, Kieran, Maria, Jack… oh, I know. Madeline Sparrow, alias Maddie."

"What's she like?"

"Mostly a wallflower, although once you get to know her she's really nice. She has blonde hair, light grey eyes… she's one of the only girls in school that doesn't purposely shorten her skirt-"

Suddenly he felt and heard a buzzing sound coming from his coat pocket. He took out his cellphone and looked at the flashing number on the screen.

"Well speak of the devil." He said. "Sorry, this'll only take a second."

He flipped open his phone.

"Hey."

"Caleb has organized an emergency meeting of some sort after school. Were meeting in my dorm to avoid suspicion."

"Whatsit about?"

"No idea, Caleb's been in a terrible mood, he hasn't told anyone anything all day except that to me. I'm in charge of passing it around."

"Who does he think he is, some of us have lives you know."

"I know, I know. Don't shoot the messenger. Anyways, I'll see you around." And she hung up.

"What was that about?" Clea asked when Tyler had put his cellphone away.

"Long story, and it isn't anything important anyways. I'll explain sometime in the near future. Where were we?"

"A girl, Maddie… Starling?"

"Oh yeah, Maddie. And its Maddie Sparrow, different bird." He said. "Yeah, a really nice girl, if you're ever looking for a girl friend I could introduce you."

"Her name sounds familiar." Clea took a sip of her coffee while looking thoughtful. "Maddie Sparrow. Maddie Sparrow. Maddie…." Then her eyes widened in sudden recollection. "Maddie Sparrow! We were in elementary school together!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, back in MeadowBrooke… Wow that was a long time ago!" She reminisced in bliss for a few moments before a frown broke her lovely face. "I'll pass on the introduction, thanks."

"What? Why?"

"Because Madeline was a really weird kid when I knew her. And I don't want to deal with that kind of weirdness now."

"Aw come on." Tyler said playfully. "People change, don't they?"

"Maybe." Clea said nervously. "But I really hope that she changed for the best, because I have awful memories of her as a child."

Tyler leaned in closer, in a I'm-here-to-listen-and-help kind of way.

"Well, she was always sortof odd but the scary stuff started after her mum died." She looked up to make sure Tyler knew her mother had died. "She talked about the incident, cause you know, she was there, describing it in perfect detail during class time. For show and tell she brought some of her mom's ashes and put them in her hand and blew in it so they flew all across the room, and she cackled this really evil little laugh. She started drawing our classmates in weird poses with blood and death and stuff all about, and she would scream and shout and accuse people of being murderers and rapists and stuff…"

"Wow." Tyler said.

"Yeah, but the worst part is that she would lie constantly. About everything. She had this amazing imagination that she wasted telling stories of our classmates dying and everything… the story of her mom's death changed at least a dozen times, when we would discuss what we did during the weekend she would make up this elaborate lie that everyone would believe but then would be proven wrong later. She is devilishly smart, that girl, and she uses for wrong things. She can manipulate anyone into doing what she wants, and she has this innocent look that makes it even easier for her to lie and cheat and steal from everyone. Even ten years later I still don't want to get close to her because I know she will cheat and steal and hurt me without caring."

She took a final drought of coffee to regain composture and gave Tyler a sad little smile.

"Sorry for getting all emotional, but she really hurt me and my friends back in elementary school. And she's probably been playing all of you guys for suckers too."

Tyler frowned. The possibility that Maddie had been lying all along had never occurred to him.

"Not very likely." He said quietly.

"Well it could be. I'll tell you one thing she used to do in grade school, after drawing all the pictures of my dead friends. When they would scoff and blow her off she said something like 'this is going to happen wether you want it or not you know, because I was chosen to have the second sight and see beyond life into death and I know that this is the way you will all perish!' and then she would cackle."

"Second sight?"

"Yeah." Clea Nodded. "And then one day this girl Lauren said that it was a load of lies and she started describing her death in every possible detail. And Lauren started crying. Soon after that she attacked a teacher and then she started to go see that shrink and she stopped talking all together."

"Hm."

Tyler began to wonder if Maddie wasn't just pulling their leg about the second sight. She predicted Fae's death afterwards claiming she knew it beforehand, and she claimed not to see the sons of Ipswich deaths. To avoid awkward questions perhaps? And she didn't seem too fazed at the fact she saw death everywhere, and if she had been constructing this lie since her childhood then it must be very detailed and imprinted into her memory.

He remembered how amazed she was at his display of power. Maybe she wanted to harness it for herself, and wrap him and the others around her finger to manipulate by playing the nice girl.

And now it made total sense.

"Right?

"Huh?"

"I said that that doesn't really matter, does it? She probably grew out of it."

"Oh, yeah, people don't stay like they were when they were kids. She's a great girl now, and I'm sure if you talk to her she would apologize for all the harm she did back then."

Clea smiled sadly.

"Yeah, maybe she would, but I would still rather not."

The topic moved on, and they chatted for a few more minutes before they remembered they had class afterwards. They packed up their things and head back to Spencer, the thought of Maddie being a fake bothering Tyler the whole time.


	17. Chapter 17

"So what are you looking for again?"

"Dunno."

Tyler had borrowed the photocopied file from Pogue once class had ended before the emergency meeting, and was reviewing all of it. Nothing in it conformed to Clea's tale, but at the same time everything did.

He flipped through the twelve pages again, not finding anything new or incriminating. He sighed, and put the file down, convincing himself that Maddie was honest and that her abilities were true. But a nagging feeling in the bottom of his heart didn't agree.

"Well you can search for whatever it is later, we have to go meet everyone for the meeting." Pogue said.

"Yeah. Right. Lets go." Tyler shoved the file back into the desk drawer and walked out the door after Pogue.

When they got to Ana and Maddie's dorm room Tyler hesitated a bit before walking in. Fortuantely Pogue didn't, and seconds later they were standing in the lvingroom, Maddie reading a book while sitting on a couch and Reid and Ana eating each other's faces on the other. Pogue laughed loudly when he saw, but the two still didn't separate. Maddie didn't react either, and they soon noticed the two small earphones in each of her ears.

"Hello!" Pogue yelled loudly. Maddie jumped, Ana stopped and Reid pulled himself off of her for a moment to glare at his friends.

"What the hell do you want?" He hissed, wiping lipgloss off his mouth.

"Meeting, dumbass, did you forget?"

Reid paused and thought of this.

"No. I just found a better thing to do."

Ana cackled.

"Well we need to hold the meeting now, Reid." Caleb said, suprising everyone by his stealthy entry moments ago. "You can finish what you started later."

Reid groaned and sat up, followed swiftly by Ana.

"Anastasia Siward, didn't you have an erran to run?" Maddie said innocently. Ana looked at her, blinked, sighed, and resigned herself to her fate. She stood grudgingly, fixed her skirt and hair and after putting on a fresh coat of dark red lipgloss waltzed out the door.

"Right, lets get started then." Caleb said.

Maddie took the earphones out of her ears, Pogue sat down on the couch beside Reid and Tyler just stood beside Caleb.

"So whats this meeting for, Caleb?" Maddie asked.

"Just a warning, I think. I have a feeling that Chase is going to try and hit during the winter formal. He hit at the fall formal last time, and I think that he thinks we'll have our guard down like last time."

"Also because Reid is ascending that day." Pogue said. "January 27th."

"So we have to assume that Reid is his main target. And that he's going to try and get to you no matter what, so we need to set up extra security. And never get Reid out of our sight."

"Right." Pogue nodded. He turned to Reid. "So how does it feel to be the center of attention, blondie?"

Reid grinned and was about to answer when Caleb cut him off.

"This isn't a game, this isn't about being the center of attention, this is about killing Chase Collins and making sure no one gets hurt again. So keep Ana out of the picture for a little bit, don't be with her in public and don't brag about her. Got it?"

Reid nodded, grasping the seriousness of the situation.

"And Maddie." Caleb turned to the only girl in the room. "Don't stay too close to us. Its ok if its in school, because we already stated that Chase isn't going to attack from that angle, but outside and in the streets don't get too attached, alright?"

"Yeah, sure." She nodded.

"And as for you two." He turned to Pogue and Tyler. "No fucking around. When I say something is going to be done no arguing, no retaliating, no going off on your own or anything. You guys don't have anything to lose yet, so don't fuck it up for those who do."

Pogue looked slightly offended by this, remembering Kate's fight for her life against a curse Chase set on her last time they fought, but stayed quiet. It was true that this time, if Chase wanted to get to the next ascending son, Reid, he could only hurt Reid himself or maybe Ana. The rest of them were safe as long as Reid stayed his usual self.

"That's all." Caleb said. "Just please remember all this. We can't afford losing anyone."

Everyone slowly shuffled out of the room except Maddie, who plugged the earphones back in her ears and proceeded to lose herself in her small world of music and Nietzsche. Tyler cast her a glance as he stepped out, wondering how she could have lied to all of them.

* * *

Caleb, once having returned to his house and locked himself in his room, proceeded to strip from the waist up and examine for the enth time the damage that the aging has caused to his body.

His arms looked a good half century older than he was. The skin was wrinkled, parchment-thin and transparent to the point where he could see the veins and blood vessels in his flesh. His hands looked like claws, his fingers had elongated and his nails grown thicker and yellow before chipping off at random places. His knuckles looked like tree bark, and felt as flexible as it too.

The aging had spread upwards towards his shoulders a while ago. They were with brown spots and the skin was bigger than the flesh was and it drooped a little. His chest wasn't as old as his arms were but it was getting there: where there used to be a fit body shaped up from long swim meets and days at the gym now the muscles were disappearing fast and the skin starting to sag from the excess space. He could feel his ribs getting brittle under his waist.

Caleb gritted his teeth and made his pained hands into fists. It was spreading, fast, and he needed to stop it. He could feel the age starting to affect his legs from the inside out, his knees and muscles getting sore quickly and without reason. He felt lucky that it hadn't yet reached his face, else than the bags under the eyes and the small, nearly invisible wrinkles that formed around his eyes when he smiled that weren't there before, but he knew that it was just a matter of time before he was exposed completely.

He sighed and sat down on his bed. He held up his hands and examined them carefully. Where months ago he had had smooth hands that used his power gracefully and wrote with elegance he now possessed hands that could belong to a monster, or a dying old man.

And it was painfully unfair.

He had never done anything wrong to anyone, except Chase of course, but he deserved it. He was the most responsible of the entire covenant, the most kind, the most compassionate, and he's still the one who ends up suffering.

Then his mind started drifting to how far he would go to get rid of this aging. Would he make an innocent suffer? Certainly. Would he kill? Most likely. Would he hurt the covenant?

With a sigh he shrugged away the thought, thinking that he'll cross that bridge when he gets there


	18. Chapter 18

Wednesday morning the sons of Ipswich had their only other class together else than biology. But in this class the teacher was smart enough not to let them all sit together. Caleb was in the back, since he was the least likely to disturb, Reid in the front, for the same reason, and Tyler and Pogue were just about in the middle, albeit at different ends of the classroom. 

"Class, please bid an exceptionally eloquent hello to the newest addition to our writer's craft classroom, our temple of knowledge and creativity where every element that educates the young adult's brain come together as one, indescribable element of learning!"

The teacher had become red in the face after his energetic speech and arm-flailing. He coughed a little and cleared his throat, before motioning to a discreet girl.

"Please welcome our freshest canvas, Mlle Clea Nischols, who has come to us from the outskirts of the home of Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Christie, Tolkein and more!"

She blushed at his high level of energy. While he raved, Maddie leaned to her right and asked something to Tyler, who was sitting just beside her, the usual student that sat between them at the infirmary, sick.

"Are you alright?" She asked him. He barely looked her way, and simply mumbled a barely audible yes. "Because you seem angry to me. Did anything happen?"

"Nope." He said.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive?"

"Are you lying?"

"No."

She leaned in closer and was whispering now.

"Tyler Sims, there is something bothering you and its related to me since you haven't spoken to me in two days, although I happen to be in more than half your classes and you walk by my locker every time you head to class. Would it be too much to ask what I did to make you so angry?"

"Yep. So don't bother."

"Well, Mlle Nischols, we must now find a spot for you to be seated whilst the class commences…" The teacher began, his eyes scanning the room.

"She can sit in Harvey's spot, sir. He's going to be in the infirmary for at least a week, and by then we should have found a proper feng-shuied spot to add another seat."

"Very good idea Mr. Sims!" the teacher exclaimed. He ushered the girl to her seat, she had a delighted look on her face.

"Hey!" she whispered once she sat down. "I didn't know you were in this class!"

"Neither did I!" he grinned back at her, ignoring Maddie's look of total shock behind her. "Good thing I found out though, or you might have been stuck sitting next to some creeper."

"Yeah, I was afraid of that!" She giggled nervously. "So what do we do in this class?"

"Goof off, try not to get caught… and then entertain the teacher by writing either essays so good they're amazing or so bad they're funny."

Clea smiled, showing off her rows of white teeth.

"Sounds awesome, I'm so glad I took this elective instead of theoretical mathematics… those were the only two options!"

"You _considered _taking theoretical math? You're crazy, girl!"

"Mr Sims, if you could save your flirting for after class I would greatly appreciate it. Now, returning to the analyse of Poe's Annabel Lee, please take out your notes…"

Tyler grinned and looked over at the blushing Clea.

"Flirt, me? Never…" he whispered jokingly.


	19. Chapter 19

Tyler found himself spending more and more time with Clea in the following week than he had with anyone else in his lifetime, save his brothers. She was smart, charming, funny and not bad at all to look at, and he found that he had so much in common with her not hanging out with her is an impossibility.

At the same time, he had found that Maddie was nowhere to be seen.

The thought crossed his mind that if she like him as much as he had hoped she did a week ago she would have made a bigger effort to try and get herself forgiven. Instead, he hadn't seen her all week, the girl was avoiding him like the plague.

_Whatever. _Tyler thought. He didn't care about her anymore. He even admitted to himself that he had liked her, although he couldn't fathom why, and now he had moved onto bigger and better things.

"Hey Tyler!"

"Hey!"

Clea sat down infront of him in a small booth in the coffee shop where they first got to know each other. Her skin was pale and her cheeks flushed from the cold, but she had a huge grin on her face. Tyler handed her a mug of hot coffee. She took a deep breath, inhaled the strong scent and sighed contently.

"I love coffee. Thanks! So what did you want to see me for?"

"I need to ask you something."

"Ok, shoot." She took a long sip of her drink.

"Ok, well, here it goes. They throw these formal party things at Spencer each year, one for every season. And the Winter Formal is coming up next Friday…"

"I heard of that!"

"Yeah, well, I was wondering… do you want to go with me? You know, as a couple or something?"

Clea was speechless.

"Or as friends, you know, whatever…"

"I would love to go to the Winter Formal with you!" she squealed, and smiled happily. "I'll find a dress sometime this week!"

"Great!" Tyler grinned. "I can pick you up somewhere the night of… how bout at seven?"

"Sounds amazing!" She took a drink, and checked her watch. "Oh, dear, I gotta go, I have to meet with the principal about credits and stuff. I'll see you around, Tyler!"

She finished the last of her coffee, stood, and kissed Tyler on the cheek. She blushed slightly, giggled, and walked out.

Minutes later, an insanely giddy Tyler Sims skipped out of the coffee shop and finished what he thought was the greatest day of his life.

* * *

_Argh. I am totally stuck. i need approx. 1 week or 2 chapters worth of filler, and i cant seem to write any of it. I'm an erratic writer, so ive written the last 10-ish chapters or so (ok, maybe not that much, but still, alot) in advance because i was feeling inspired, and now i need to connect this and that and its driving me mad. which is why this chapter is so short and the updates are taking so long. as soon as i pass over this awkward bump im going to update like CRAZY since its all already written._

_just thought i should point that out, to explain._

_R&R, still :)_


	20. Chapter 20

It was Friday January 27th, approximatively 7 o'clock. The winter formal dance was starting in an hour, and Caleb Danvers was heading out to pick up Sarah in ten minutes.

At the moment he was examining his tuxedoed self in a mirror, carefully looking over all the tailored stitches and assuring himself that none of his sickly skin was showing. He had on a pair of gloves, and his collar was buttoned up to its stiffest point.

He sighed, and ran a gloved hand over his face. The aging had spread, much to his dismay, although it was affecting his facial features much slower than the rest of his body. The only changes were dark bags under his eyes, a few wrinkles at the side of his mouth and eyes, and a few small spots that weren't there before. But it still scared him.

He ruffled his hair, plastered on a smile and prepared to head out the door when the phone rang. He turned around and grabbed it from his bed.

"Hello?" he asked tiredly.

"Caleb. Its Gorman."

Caleb was startled. He had never seen or heard the man use a phone. Hell, he didn't even know he owned a phone.

"Alright… Why are you calling?" he asked, avoiding asking where he had gotten his number.

"That friend of yours. Madeline, the blonde. I said I would find her information on her family history and how she could possibly be involved with you four."

"And you found something?" Caleb was interested now. He put down his coat and sat on his bed.

"I did indeed. Could you tell her?"

"Yeah, sure. What's the story?"

"Well. Her great-great-something grandfather on her mother's side was Sir William Stoughton, the witch hunter that was called upon to investigate the witch trials at Salem, where your families lived. He was responsible for the deaths of the great majority of the accused women. Your families, mostly yours though, thought that he ought to be punished for all the chaos he caused and cursed him."

"They _cursed _him?"

"Yes. The curse in itself was that whatever he loved most in the world would cause him the most pain. The whole affair of seeing people die must have been a side effect, of some other curse they added on top to try and make their point across. They hoped that he was vain enough to love himself and slowly suffer until he begged forgiveness to God and the judges, as his assistant did after barely a day of the curse, so they could lift it, but that wasn't the case. He never asked for forgiveness so the curse was never lifted, and I suppose it must have been transmitted from generation to generation until it reached Madeline."

Caleb stayed silent for a long time after that. All the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fit together now, and form a clear picture. Maddie's curse had been sucking power out of him. He hadn't met or come in contact with her until recently, so the aging couldn't start until then, and even if he had met her before it wouldn't have aged him until he had ascended.

"Gorman… if we forgive Maddie the curse will go away then?" he said with a faint stutter.

"I'm afraid not, it can only be removed by the exact person who performed it… but you could probably find an anti curse that would prevent it from being passed on to her children. I found a book, well, rather a diary of your ancestor, Caleb, its quite an interesting read it ever you want to see it."

"I'll see. Thanks Gorman." He said, barely whispering.

"You're very welcome. Don't forget to tell her." He hung up, and Caleb was greeted with the dial tone ringing incessantly.

The gears in Caleb's head started working overdrive now. His aging was because of Maddie, and her cruel and stupid ancestor. There was no way of stopping it.

Unless…

Caleb pondered the value of killing her. He wasn't that attached to her, and his desire to be young again was enough to muffle any emotions he had on her behalf. His brothers would understand, and no one really noticed her at school. She wouldn't be a great loss to the community, her death wouldn't affect anyone except him. And it would affect him in an exceptionally good way.

He took a deep breath and a relaxed smile spread across his face. The solution to all his problems had been revealed to him, and all it consisted of was stopping the heartbeat of a single girl.

* * *

Tyler was waiting in front of the auditorium, fiddling with the knot in his tie nervously as he waited for Clea. She had an appointment before the dance, and had insisted that he went without her, and that she would meet him there. He had agreed, a bit mournfully, and now she was a full three minutes late and he was freaking out.

He started pacing around his truck, straightening out his suit and tie nervously, wiping away imaginary stains and dust.

"That tux clean enough?" a voice joked from behind him.

He spun around, and gaped at the vision before him.

Clea was wearing a strapless cream-colored dress made of silky shimmering fabric that was cut slightly below her knees. A strip of fabric was hanging from each side, and was tied to her wrists. Her hair was straightened to a sleek shine, that flowed around her pretty face and reached her mid-back, with the added length. Her arms were crossed across her chest, her right clutching a small cream purse, and a cute sceptic expression was on her face.

"Uh… yeah… wow! You look amazing!" he exclaimed. She giggled and blushed.

"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself… you should wear a suit more often!"

He laughed, and extended his arms regally. She linked hers with his, and they walked towards the auditorium, where the dance was taking place.

"Hey!" Pogue, looking handsome in his dress shirt and pants, exclaimed when they walked through the double doors. "So you two did make it!"

He was holding hands with Kate, who looked stunning in a long emerald green dress with a neck that revealed dark skin midway through her chest. She looked over Clea and winked suggestively at Tyler. Both he and Clea blushed.

"I'm warning you now: all the drinks are spiked, except those in cans. There's a bunch of guys planning on pantsing the first guy to dance past the ice statue there. So I suggest you avoid doing so, and same goes with the punch unless you're planning on getting wasted." Pogue continued. "Well, we must be off." He waved slightly with his hand and he and Kate wandered off, leaving Tyler and Clea alone amongst all the other couples.

"So… you wanna dance?" Tyler asked nervously.

Clea smiled, took his hand and led him to the dance floor.

* * *

"Caleb stop bullshitting me. Something is wrong."

"There is nothing wrong, Sarah." Caleb said exasperatedly. "Believe me, if there was something, you would know."

"And I do know. I just don't know what it is because my stubborn boyfriend doesn't want to tell me." She glared at him, then softened her eyes. "Caleb. You can trust me with whatever's wrong. I love you."

"I love you too." He said with a smile, aware of the wrinkles at the side of his mouth. Sarah didn't notice them.

Caleb parked his car Beside Tyler's truck, and exited to open the passenger door for Sarah. She stepped out carefully, making sure not to catch the flowy fabric of he blue dress on anything. Once out she took Caleb's hand, and the two entered the auditorium.

"Sarah." Caleb whispered in her ear once the door had closed behind them, "I need to talk to the boys for a minute or so. Can you manage without me for a little while?"

"Of course." She smiled at him. "Don't take too long."

They kissed, and Caleb went looking for the rest of the covenant. He found Pogue dancing with Kate and Reid gyrating with a half dozen different girls at a time, but no sign of Tyler.

"Where is he?" he asked Pogue. The latter shrugged.

"Dunno. I saw him a while ago with that girl, whatsername… the brunette."

Caleb frowned.

"We have to find him."

* * *

"Youre a great dancer, Ty, where did you learn to dance like that?"

"I have no idea!" Tyler said with a laugh.

He and Clea were standing outside, each with a canned drink in hand, appreciating the cool air outside after a long time inside the cramped heated gym. They weren't saying anything anymore, just watching the sky darken and the stars appear.

"Thanks for inviting me Tyler." Clea whispered after a long silence.

"Youre welcome. I'm glad you could come. I mean, I've only known you for a few weeks, but I sortof feel that theres something about you I really need… ok that sounds really cheesy." He laughed nervously and took a sip of his drink.

"No, it doesn't, I know exactly how you feel… I guess I feel the same." She blushed.

The silence suddenly became awkward, and the tension level began to rise abnormally.

"Well I think I'll head back to the dance now." Clea said apbruptly. She walked quickly in front of Tyler.

"Clea, wait!" he reached out and grabbed her arm. She yelped out of shock, and jumped a bit. She ended up really close to him, their faces inches apart. Tyler gulped, Clea blushed, and they stayed silent for a while.

Then Tyler took a deep breath and leaned forward. Clea closed her eyes, and a few seconds later their lips were almost touching, and Tyler could feel her breathing and hear her heartbeat. He closed his eyes and leaned in just a bit closer but Clea opened her eyes in panic and took a step back.

"I'm sorry Tyler…" she whispered, tears in her eyes. "I just can't… she… she…"

And as the tears welled up in her eyes she sobbed rather loudly and rushed off, leaving Tyler in a bit of a daze.

"She?"

The realization came moments later. Tyler made his hands into fists, scowled, and head off towards his truck furiously.

* * *

_Everything is falling into place... hee hee!_

_I'm heading out on vacation in three weeks, and im going to try to finish posting all of this story by then. So prepare yourselves for major updates very soon and very close apart._

_And I added what some of the characters look like in my head on my profile, so go check them out, and comment!_


	21. Chapter 21

Tyler stormed through the halls of the dormitory, hands balled into fists, his nails digging into the palms of his hands to the point where they bled. He had rage in his eyes, and was almost twitching. He scanned the numbers printed on the doors quickly as he walked by, stopping dead in his tracks when he reached a certain one. He slammed his right fist once on the door hard. When no one answered, he did it again. Finally, after a few moments, someone opened the door.

If Tyler had been less angry he would have noticed the blue dress that had been thrown to the floor behind him. He also would have noticed that she was very beautiful tonight, and that this was the first time he had seen her wearing makeup. And that she looked terribly sad. But he didn't notice.

When she had opened the door and seen him standing there, all dressed up, a flicker of hope flashed through her grey eyes, before she registered the rage printed on his face. Once she noticed it, her expression darkened.

"What do you want?" Maddie asked softly.

"What the hell is your problem?" Tyler screamed. Maddie winced and took a step back. "Who the fuck do you think you are, thinking that you can go and just ruin people's lives like that? By lying, cheating, hurting people? For no fucking reason else than to satisfy your offended ego? You-"

"What did I do?" Maddie asked, just as calmly.

"You ruined everything between me and Clea! I don't know what the fuck you did to her, but whatever it is it makes you a total bitch! And a liar, and…"

And he went on rambling about her being a bitch for another three minutes, and Maddie just leaned against the doorframe and listened, absent-mindedly, as she stared at the hallway floor. After a certain point she got fed up, took a step back and slammed the door in Tyler's face.

He stood there in shock for a moment, staring at the wooden door, before his anger came back full force. His eyes flashed black and he blew the door away.

"Don't you fucking dare run away from me! I wont let you sleep, I wont let you eat, I wont let you do anything before you fix this, you dirty liar!"

"Fix what?"

"Whatever you did to Clea!"

Tyler took a few steps forward, stepping on the blue dress as he approached Maddie.

"Got it?" He hissed once they were face to face. Maddie started shaking.

"Get out." She whispered. Tyler didn't reply. "Get out!" she screamed, and shoved Tyler's chest. He stumbled a few steps back. "Get the fuck out of my room, right now, Tyler! I don't know what the hell you're talking about and I honestly don't care, so just get out and leave me alone!"

"No." Tyler said menacingly.

"Get out!"

"Not until you fix this!"

"I didn't do anything!" She screamed, shoving him in the chest hard. Tyler growled, raised his arm and hit her, hard. Maddie gasped and stumbled back. She raised her shaky hand to her cheek, where he had hit her, and felt the stream of blood dripping from her mouth. She looked back up at Tyler, horrified.

"You deserve it." He mumbled.

Maddie started crying, a steady flow of tears dripping down her cheeks and mixing with the trickle of blood that leaked from the side of her lip. She started talking, in a shaky, hiccupy voice, starting calmly but getting louder at every end of phrase, crying more and more until at the end she was screaming and sobbing almost hysterically.

"You are a horrible person! Don't you ever care about anyone else than yourself? You think that the world will always bend to your need and everyone will always do what you say! And you're too stupid to realize all the little things that are so easy to see that make things what they are! You're like a child! No, you're no child, because when I was a kid the children I knew weren't as mean, they didn't concentrate their lives on hurting you and pouring salt on The fresh wounds they made! No child ever hurts purposely, no, when I was a child I was happy because the world was and there was no cruelty! And then you start blaming me for the curse? You think I wanted to be able to see everyone I know die in front of my eyes? You think I deserve it? That I like it? Well I don't and when it started I died!"

And then she stormed past him, grabbed her coat and ran out the door. Tyler didn't even bother calling after her to let her know he had seen through her disguise, and that soon the world would know what a terrible person she was. He smirked to himself.

Now the only thing left to do was to find Clea and get that kiss.

* * *

"Hey, Ty!"

Reid ran to catch up to the brunette that had hurriedly exited his truck.

"Caleb needs to talk to us." The blonde explained when he had stopped his friend. The two other members of the covenant walked up beside them.

"Well can you do it fast?" Tyler said to Caleb. "I sorta have something to do. Soon."

"Tyler!" "Relax, Pogue. I can do this fast. First, let me remind all of you about a certain blonde girl that we met a while ago with particular gifts-"

"Oh, I dealt with that already." Tyler said, unfazed. Caleb looked at him in utter shock.

"What?" he blurted out. "Yeah. That curse stuff? Total bull. Confronted her like five minutes ago. She went off crying, like a drama queen, I don't think she'll be messing with us any time soon-"

"Bull?" Caleb interrupted.

"Yeah. Bullshit. Lies. Make-believe. C'mon Cale, don't tell me you believed it?"

"Its not a question of whether I believe it or not. It's a question of facts, and that said facts totally rule out your little theory of 'total bull.' Maddie's a descendant of the witch hunter from Salem… the one that our ancestors had cursed for wreaking havoc. And the curse was passed down from generation to generation until… voila. Second-sight Madeline."

Tyler stood there, gaping, in total shock.

"Shit." He hissed.

His mind working overdrive, he compiled the events of the past weeks and analyzed them in his head. Clea working so hard to convince him that Maddie was lying, and making her seem like a total bitch. Clea accusing Maddie of sabotaging their 'relationship'. Maddie being utterly confused when he attacked her. Maddie still saying she was cursed even though Tyler had repeated that he knew she was lying. Somewhere in between he had defined Maddie as evil, and Clea as good, when now it was clear it was the other way around.

"Shit!" he said louder. He spun around, hopped into his truck and drove off to who knows where.

"Tyler!" Caleb yelled after him. "Come on, we need to follow him, I'm not done yet…"

And the three remaining sons of Ipswich headed to Caleb's car to follow the dark blue truck that was disappearing into the night.

* * *

_DUM DUM DUM..._

_um, no important author's note this time. just the usual, review!!!_


	22. Chapter 22

Tyler had driven around the town twice, and still he hadn't seen a glimpse of Maddie. However, he had seen a copy of today's newspaper, and the obituary that was published in it for William Sparrow. He had stopped to pick it up, and skimmed through it briefly. Suicide. It only added to the guilt of how he hurt Maddie.

When he drove back to school a few hours later, defeated, he was shocked to see her there. She was sitting against the same tree she had been when they had first spoken to each other, staring off into space. She didn't notice him until he was a few feet behind her.

"Hey." He said softly. She simply looked up at him. "Look." He started. "I'm really sorry, and I take back everything I said, I was wrong, you're the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me and I cant believe I hurt you… please I just need to know that you forgive me… even though I don't deserve it." He finished lamely.

Maddie didn't reply. But her eyes didn't once stop staring right into his. Her eerie, almost white eyes.

"Tyler!" Caleb and Pogue ran up behind him.

"Don't run anymore. I need to finish this." Caleb said sternly. When he noticed Tyler looking at the both of them curiously he added, "Reid went off to the barn. He's ascending soon."

Tyler didn't reply, he just sat on the ground beside Maddie, who didn't react, and looked into space.

"What I was trying to say before you left is that since Maddie was cursed by our ancestors that means that technically now, since they are dead, we're the ones that hold the responsibility of her curse… and the consequences."

"Consequences?" Pogue asked.

"Yeah. See the problem with curses is that until the cursed asks for forgiveness and the one that cursed them accepts they stay put, and keep sucking power from us."

"Well can't we ask her ask for forgiveness?"

"It doesn't work that way, Pogue. It has to be the original people that cursed her, and the originally cursed. And since both are dead-"

"So what do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do exce-"

"Well what's the point of having this talk then?"

"Tyler, shut it. I wasn't done. The only thing we can do is stop the curse before all of us ascend, and the only way to do that is by killing her…"

Silence reigned for a few long minutes, until Tyler spoke up.

"You're fucking kidding me."

"Sadly, no." Tyler stood up now, and was facing Caleb, although a few inches shorter.

"There is no way in hell that we are killing Maddie."

"Tyler, we don't have a choice-"

"Why not? What will happen if for some reason we decide to be good people and _not _kill her?"

"We'll suffer. All of us. Because it sucks power, and it will keep doing so until we're dead."

"I don't care. I'm not killing her." Tyler said firmly.

"Well, you don't have to, because I'm prepared to do it myself. With or without your consent." He glanced over at Pogue, who was just as shocked as Tyler but quieter.

"So if you can just step back baby boy and let me do what I have to do I would appreciate it." He shoved Tyler out of the way, to get to Maddie, but Tyler just shoved him back, and stepped between him and Maddie.

"I can't let you kill her." He hissed.

"I don't care." Caleb shoved Tyler roughly, and he almost fell backwards, but was on his feet again in seconds. He lunged for Caleb, who moved out of the way in time but an edge of his sleeve got caught in Tyler's hand and ripped cleanly off. All the sons of Ipswich that were present gasped.

"See?" Caleb said through gritted teeth. "See this? This is whats going to happen to all of you once you ascend. Because of her." He stared right at Maddie. He took a menacing step forward, taking advantage of the fact that Tyler was in total shock, and knelt beside Maddie. "I'm sorry. But it has to be done." He said to her.

Then his eyes went black, and a look of extreme concentration was plastered onto his face. But nothing happened.

Maddie smirked. Caleb was taken aback, because he had never seen her smile like that. It was a smirk filled with evil, filled with selfishness, filled with _I-told-you-so. _

And she started to disappear. First her hands, who were resting on her lap, became more and more transparent, until they disappeared altogether. Then her feet, her legs, her arms, her chest, her head, until all that was left was her smirk and the glow of her eyes.

Then nothing. Caleb blinked and his eyes returned to normal.

Tyler panicked, and rushed towards the tree, running his hands on where she had been seconds ago. The bark and ground weren't even warm, as if she had never been there.

"What did you do?" He hissed at Caleb. "What the hell did you do!"

"I didn't do anything." Caleb said grimly.

"A friend of ours got to her first. And made an illusion so we wouldn't bother searching for the real one. And now she's in his hands." "What? Who?"

"Chase." Pogue said. He looked at Caleb. "I thought he came back for us, not for her?"

"He did. She's just a way of getting to us. Too bad it only works for one…" He glanced at Tyler.

"What? Chase has her?" He stood and looked around the park.

"Yeah. And although I do want her dead I don't want her tortured. So I'm off to go kill her before he does too much damage." He looked at Pogue. "You coming?"

Pogue stayed silent. Caleb sighed. "Whatever. I'll see you two later."

And he coolly walked away.

* * *

_I'm sick. And consequently, on a writing binge. I might post a few more chapters today, actually. Review! (and check out the character visuals on my profile, if you havent yet, and comment on those!)_


	23. Chapter 23

"Caleb wants to kill her!"

"I know."

"But I mean _Caleb_! Reid I would understand, even you, or me, but Caleb?"

"Tyler. Calm down."

"I can't calm down! My best friend wants Maddie dead!"

"I know!" Pogue screamed. Tyler had been freaking out and repeating the same thing over and over for the past hour. They were in his truck, driving around, desperately trying to find either Caleb, Chase, or Maddie. So far, no luck. And Pogue was getting irritated at Tyler's stubbornness when it came to this wild goose chase.

"You think I don't realize how bad this is?" He continued. "I'm the one stuck in the fucking middle and at the moment I feel like I'm the one that's the most sane! Were all divided, and all equally screwed because of this and this fucking girl! One of us wants her dead, one of us is madly, blindly almost stupidly in love with her, the other is suffering from post-ascension shock and can't move and probably wont be able to for at least another day, and the last, me, is stuck in the middle! This is the end of the world, Tyler! Doomsday, the apocalypse, the end of everything we fucking know! There are very little ways that this can end, and neither of them are very good and have a nice, pleasant, happy ending for an outcome!"

Tyler stayed silent.

"Sorry." He mumbled. Pogue smiled weakly.

"Don't worry about it." His face suddenly lit up and he rummaged through his pockets. "Caleb gave me this. It's the diary of his ancestor, the one that killed Maddie. There might be something useful in here…"

Tyler nodded, and Pogue put the small leather-bound book back in his pocket.

They kept driving for another half hour before Pogue spotted something on the side of the road.

"Hey. Isn't that your girlfriend. Clea?"

Tyler peered through the windshield and stopped the car abruptly. It was Clea, still in her dress, sitting on a bench by the side of the road, staring at the cars whooshing past. Tyler hopped out of the car, followed by Pogue, and approached her cautiously.

"Clea?"

She looked up at him, a look of surprise on her face.

"I'm really sorry I abandoned you like that at the formal, I just had this stuff to do and…"

"Don't worry about it." She said sweetly. "I forgive you. Would you mind giving me a ride back to campus?"

"Of course not, c'mon."

He watched her stand up, and walk past him slowly and get into his car on the passenger's side. Pogue, who was sitting there originally, frowned but didn't say anything and got into the backseat.

The truck zoomed towards Spencer academy, the three people inside completely quiet. Tyler was concentrating a little too hard on the road, Clea was staring out the window into nothing, and Pogue was looking at both of them.

"So Clea." He started casually. "What were you doing out here all alone?"

Clea glanced back at him and Tyler sighed with relief, thankful his friend had asked the question that had been bugging him.

"Oh, well, I got a ride with some people, except the car broke down so we all stopped there. We all started walking eventually, I must have gotten lost and separated from the group."

"That sucks." Pogue said. He examined her carefully. "Nice coat."

Tyler glanced over at Clea and choked. She was wearing a black coat over her cream coloured dress, a black coat that looked familiar to him. Primarily because in the pocket of the coat a black leather glove was sticking out, a glove that he recognized because he had been wearing it a while back and remembered the hole at the summit of one of the fingers. And also because hours ago a girl that he had been a jerk to had grabbed that coat from her closet and stormed out of her dorm. And he hadn't seen her since.

"That's Maddie's coat."

"Huh?" Clea looked at him, puzzled.

"That's Maddie's coat. The one you're wearing. She was wearing it a few hours ago, then she disappeared." Tyler stopped the car in the middle of the road.

"No its not." Clea said. "It's a black coat, lots of people have black coats. Its mine, I bought it a month ago."

Tyler reached over into her pocket and pulled out the gloves that were in there.

"Maddie leant me these gloves a few weeks ago." He said, waving them in her face. "I know these are the ones because there's the hole here," he pointed to it, "And I spilt some green paint on it, here." He showed her the stain, right at the wrist. "What are you doing wearing Maddie's coat?"

Clea looked over at him, than at Pogue, a panicked expression on her face. Her gaze flashed from one to the other, until she undid her seatbelt quickly and darted out the door.

"Clea!"

The two sons of Ipswich rushed out the car and ran behind her. She managed to run quite far, until the headlights of the car were little glowing dots in the distance, before they caught up to her and grabbed her.

"Who are you?"

Pogue had grabbed her by the wrist and was holding her slim frame high, so her panicked face was right in front of his. Tyler was behind him, watching the whole scene with shock in his eyes. When Clea didn't answer Pogue's question, he repeated it louder, crushing her wrist in the process.

"Who are you?" he growled. Clea yelped in pain. She looked up at him with her big pleading green eyes. When he didn't budge, she changed tactics. The green flashed to black for barely a moment and Pogue dropped her in shock.

Clea landed on her feet and made a dash for the road. Not fast enough however, because Tyler had used his power to stop her dead in her tracks before she could reach it. He slowly dragged her back to where he and Pogue were standing.

"Who are you?" Tyler asked this time.

"Don't bother. He's not going to answer." Pogue said grimly. Tyler looked at him, puzzled.

"He?"

Clea started to cackle. But her voice had changed, it was now a low, manly growl that emanated from her voice rather than the sweet feminine tone that she spoke in before. Tyler released her from the spell, and took a step back.

"Funny, I always thought that pretty boy here was the dumb one out of all of you."

Pogue balled his hands into fists.

"But hey, I was wrong. He's the only one that figured it out. Proud of yourself, Pogue?"

Clea stood up, wiping the dirt and grass off her dress. She looked at Tyler.

"And baby boy, I never knew you swung that way. You were all over me! Pogue, did you know your buddy here is gay-"

Tyler, who still wasn't quite sure what was going on but knew that whover Clea really was deserved it, took a step forward and gave Clea a sharp left hook in the side of the jaw. She was flung back a few feet, and landed on her back on the ground. But she was up moments later.

"Jeez, Tyler. That's two girl's you've hit today. You should really stop that…"

"Cut the crap." Pogue said, menacingly. "We know who you are."

"Correction. _You _know who I am."

"Chase, stop it!" Pogue yelled. Tyler froze.

"_Chase_?"

"The one and only." She said with a smirk. She bowed clumsily, then, in a puff of smoke reminiscent of the old cheap horror movies, disappeared, only to be replaced by Chase.

But it wasn't the old Chase.

It was an _old _Chase, for sure, but not the one that Pogue and Tyler were familiar with.

The last time they had seen Chase he looked like any normal eighteen year old, with dark blonde hair and an athletic body. Now, he looked at least fifty. The dark blonde shade of his hair had almost disappeared, leaving room for a lot of grey and white speckled across the top of his head. His eyes had kept their youthful glow, but they were wrinkled at the sides, and dark bags were very noticeable. His skin was beginning to age, wrinkling especially around his mouth and hands, who had the same claw-like aspect as Caleb's. When he noticed Tyler and Pogue staring, he laughed.

"Surprise!" he said. "I'm surprised none of you noticed sooner… Clea Nischols, Chase Collins…" He turned his attention to his hands. "I hear that this little affliction has been causing trouble to our buddy Caleb, huh? And its all because of that cute little blondie that I just recently met…"

"You lay a finger on her and I'm going to-"

"To what, Tyler m'boy?" He smirked at them both. "Hurt me? Kill me? You don't have the power or the guts. And besides, why do you want to save her so bad - and don't give me the bullshit about how you love her. You clearly don't, you abandoned her for me with breasts. All you do is hurt her, didn't you notice the nasty bruise you gave her?"

"Shut up, Chase." Pogue said, stopping Tyler from attacking him. "You don't have any reason to hurt her. And dressing up as a girl? That's lame."

"Well, it worked, I've got exactly what I want. This lovely lady is a dream come true, you see? I keep her alive, all of you age and wither away… I threaten to kill her, baby boy wills me his power. If he doesn't, I wait a while and see how he likes aging abnormally once all his friends are old and withered and six feet under."

"Chase-"

"You want to fight, Ty? Well good luck, we all know you're too weak… and none of your friends can help you. Hell, the only person that can help you right now is God and he isn't too fond of you…"

And before the two boys had time to blink he had disappeared. No smoke, no evil cackle, no sarcasm, he had just vanished.

"Tyler. Maybe we should go check out the church. He said something about God and…"

Before he could finish Tyler was dashing towards the specks of light that marked the position of his car. Pogue sighed, and started running after him.

* * *

The sons of Ipswich were never the religious types. So being in the town's only church was a different experience than their usual escapades.

The inside of the building proved that the faith of the citizens of Ipswich was enormous. So enormous that they went to incredible lengths to preserve that faith in god as intact. The church must have received a few couple million dollars in donations in the past few years to make the nessecary decorations.

The walls were made of a deep, dark stone, each block individually engraved with various religious scenes or icons. Included was the crucifiction, the virgin mary, st john the baptist, and alot more, enough to cover all the walls between the stained glass.

There were ten of said stained glass windows. four on each wall, one above the front door and one huge one that composed the ceiling and skylight, an exact reproduction of the sistine chapel's painting entirely made of fused and dyed glass. The eight on the walls were stages of Jesus' life, and the smaller one above the ornate door was simply the lord welcoming visitors into his church with open arms.

There were one hundred rows of pews. The aisle down the middle was covered in a deep red carpet. The altar at the front rested in front of a huge sculpted cross with a bronze man attached. There was an altar covered in candles on the right wall.

Pogue and Tyler spent a second admiring the church from the inside. The ceiling, the walls, the cross. And then they remembered why they were here. But no one was in the church else than them.

"He could be hiding." Pogue said, unconviced.

"This is useless!" Tyler kicked a pew with his foot and a surge of power, makinag a huge dent in the wood. "Why the hell isn't he here? he told us to come here!"

"Dont you see?" Pogue started bitterly. "He was just distracting us, so we dont try to find him and instead just blindly follow the clues he gives us. He thinks were stupid and we are because we just walked into his trap. Maddie is probably dead by now."

"No she isnt." Tyler said through gritted teeth. "He doesnt just want her dead he wants us to see her die. So he hasnt killed her yet."

"Lets get real here. Either way, she's scrwewed. He's most likely torturing her right now to cause us more pain."

There was a moment of painful silence. Pogue broke it by approaching the altar and lighting a single white candle with his lighter. He then clumsily placed his hands together in a form of silent prayer.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Lighting a candle. And praying for Maddie. She needs all the help she can get."

* * *

_Alrighty, so the deal is a while back i felt 'inspired', perse, for the end of the story, so i wrote it in advance. and now i've caught up to the part of the story thats prewritten, so i have twenty-something pages of already written story. So the updates are going to be super quick, mostly because i'm trying to finish this story before i leave for the summer holidays the 28th (maybe its a bit over-zealous of me, but we'll see.)_

_Oh. and the past few chapters are sortof dedicated to drica-chan, for guessing everything. Clever little thing, arent you?_


	24. Chapter 24

Tyler used up every drop of fuel in his lighter to light every candle that was on the altar. all two hundred and nine of them. and for each dancing flame he prayed a different prayer.

_please let her live._

_please kill chase_

_please kill me instead_

_please let her escape_

_please let her be unharmed_

_please let us find chase_

And after that he kneeled in front of the cross and stayed without moving for at least a half hour, praying although he didnt know how and thinking and hoping he would think of something to help Maddie. Then the idea hit.

"Pogue, you have the book that Gorman gave you?" "Yeah." He pulled the small leather-bound book from his pocket and tossed it to Tyler. "Why?"

"Because something in here might help us understand why he brought us here." He skimmed the pages, flipping madly through the diary until pages started loosening and falling out. And all it took him was the memory of something that chase told him to trigger the clue.

_"You dont love her, all you do is hurt her."_

"He knows... about her curse, and about everything!" Tyler exclaimed, letting the book drop. He had just read a page describing how the curse had side affects, that the thing that the cursed loved most would cause him pain.

"Her ancestor loved god more than anything, so the church hurt him, thats why were here. And now he wants to hurt her to hurt us so he brought her to the one thing she loves most and that hurts her most..."

"Which is?"

"I... dont know." He finished. He bent over and picked up the book. "I have no idea."

He let himself sink to the floor. He had found out exactly what Chase's plan was. And where he was keeping Maddie, and how he was torturing her. But there was no way of finding out the one little detail that made all the clues fit together. He couldnt find out what she loved most to save his life. or hers, for that matter.

"well lets proceed by reasonning, and try to come up with an educated guess.

Her family?"

"Dead." Tyler said bitterly, remembering the obituary about the death of her father.

"Her best friend?"

"She's been rooming with her for the past three years, if she caused her so much pain she would have moved out by now."

"Her beauty? clothes? hair? car? house? books? painting, drawing, reading..." Pogue kept rambling and named a few more random items.

Meanwhile Tyler had buried his head in his hands and was desperately trying to recall all the details of everything that she had ever told him in the past two weeks. He could remember her face, the colour of her eyes, the scent of her perfume and the dimples in her cheeks when she laughed, but nothing she said made sense, it was all a blur.

Nothing she said mattered. he thought bitterly. Nothing that she ever told me will save her life. Then he flashed back to her face, pale and sickly with grey eyes circled with red and leaking tears strayed with mascara as she sobbed and hiccupped and hedidnt give a damn.

_"You are a horrible person! dont you ever care about anyone else than yourself? You think that the world will always bend to your need and everyone will always do what you say! and youre too stupid to realize all the little things that are so easy to see that make things what they are! youre like a child! no, youre no child, because when i was a kid the children i knew werent as mean, they didnt concentrate their lives on hurting you and pouring salt on the fresh wounds they made! No child ever hurts purposely, no, when i was a child i was happy because the world was and there was no cruelty! and then you start blaming me for the curse? you think i wanted to be able to see everyone i know die in front of my eyes? you think i deserve it? that i like it? well i dont and when it started i died!"_

And he remembers the pain on her face and the grief shining through the tears in her eyes and when she opened her mouth to say something else but gave up before even uttering a sound, and she closed her lips and gave him a look of such sadness that now it breaks his heart. and she walked away without saying anything.

And that was the last time he ever saw her.

And the way things were going the last time he ever will.

He raised his head from between his hands and looked at the gloomy inside of the church, Pogue looking grim, standing with his hands in his pockets observing the carvings on the walls.

When he turned his head he noticed the single unlit candle between all the flickering flames. He scrambled to his feet, ran to the altar and with desperate flicks he revived one final flame from his lighter. He stuck his arm in the altar, ignoring the other flames that were licking his skin, and lit the two hundred and eleventh and final prayer candle.

_Please God let her know I'm sorry._

* * *

"_When it started I died!"_

Her sentence repeated itself for the enth time in his head.

The two of them hadn't moved from the church in the past hour. Pogue was getting irritated, pacing around and trying to coax Tyler into moving.

"Fuck off." Was his only response to whatever he said.

"_I died!"_

He buried his face in his hands.

"_I died! And now I'm dying again because you can't save me!"_

Every time he closed his eyes her face would appear, and every other moment her voice would come into his head, more desperate, more pleading. And sometimes he would hallucinate and she would appear in front of him and scream.

"Maddie…" he moaned. He hit his head against the altar.

"Ty." Pogue said "I'm heading out to find Caleb and Reid. If you need us gimme a ring."

Tyler grunted. Pogue sighed walked out of the church, leaving Tyler alone with his thoughts in the church, amongst the pews, sculptures and candles, whose flames were starting to die out, one by one, along with Tyler's hope and sanity.

"Why the fuck can't I save you!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. He grabbed an edge of the altar and lifted it up, throwing it towards the pews with an amazing display of using-assisted strength. It shattered the dark wood of the pews, row by row, and slid to a halt. He screamed in rage again, and flung a crucifix towards a stained glass skylight, shattering it into thousands of colourful glass pieces that rained onto him mixed with the real rain.

He fell to his knees under the rain, sobbing and slamming his fists into the ground, over and over, until they were bloody from the glass that he had inadvertently stabbed into his skin.

"_I died! I died! I died because of Tyler Sims!"_

"Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!"

"_I died! Because of you!"_

"I know!" he sobbed louder, burying his face in the shards of glass in his palms. "I know! I'm sorry… I'm sorry!"

The hallucination let out a blood-curdling scream and disappeared.

"Please forgive me, please, please…" He buried his face harder in his hands, the colourful glass shards piercing his skin. "I want to save you… I want to I just don't know how… I need help…" He sobbed.

"_When I was a child I was happy!" _

The voice was just as pained, just as angst-wridden and sad as it was before.

"_I was happy!"_

Tyler lifted his head from his hands. He looked around at the inside of the empty and damaged church, and stared in awe at his realization.

"_When I was a child I was happy!"_

"Your childhood…" he whispered.

It all made sense to him now. How she tried avoiding talking about her past, her childhood, not for emotional reasons but because of the immense physical pain it caused her. How she avoided socializing, not because she was shy but because if she came to love someone too much their presence would cause her pain. How much she cried the last time they spoke when she spoke of her childhood and how happy she was.

"Your fucking childhood!" he screamed. Blood leaked from the small cuts the glass had made in his face, into his mouth and he tasted the metallic taste. "fuck, fuck fuck!" He swore loudly.

"How the hell am I going to get to your childhood!" He stood and screamed up to the empty hole in the skylight. "I can't just travel through time!"

He stopped and thought for a second, catching his breath as the rain washed the blood and tears from his face. Chase had gotten to her childhood somehow, and was currently causing her immense pain through it. Since Chase couldn't travel through time either, there had to be some way of accessing her past without physically getting there.

_Her memories. Duh._

But Chase couldn't force her to think about her past.

But he could help.

Tyler paced around the church quietly, stepping over bits and pieces of pews and crucifixes and candles. Wax had hardened under the rain, and uneven puddles were forming in between the creases that the hard wax had made. Tyler stared himself down in a puddle for several moments, drops of water or blood occasionally rippling and disrupting the balance of the water.

Her house. Her friends. Her family. All her past could be recollected with the right prodding, whether it be things she saw, smelled or felt. If Chase knew enough about her to know about her curse than he must know where she lived as a child and what her parents looked like. How her mother packed her lunches in elementary school, who her first pet was and the lullabies that used to be sung to her. Chase had the knowledge of all the little quirks of her childhood that she loved, and he was going to use it against her. Starting with her childhood home.

"That's written in the file." Tyler said to himself. The file did indeed state her date of birth, place of birth and pictures of both her parents, as well as information about her elementary schools. Chase must have gotten his hands on the file, and now Tyler had to if he was going to save Maddie.

"She lived in London." He said aloud. "London. Fuck that's far."

He sat angrily on one of the intact pews. London was a long way from Ipswich, Massachusetts. A few hours in a plane and even more by car, and there was the ocean to cross. But Chase must have known that, and found a way of countering it somehow.

"Think, Tyler, think."

Chase didn't have a car, yet he still managed to move from one end of town to another when no one was around. So Chase had some sort of power that permitted him to transport himself certain distances. But it couldn't be unique, since all the covenant had the same power unless some was willed to him, the only thing that changed was the quantity and not what they could do with it.

So technically Tyler could teleport himself to London, England. But that would take an incredible amount of power, and how weak he would be after using it all what completely up for debate. It was a huge risk, he didn't even know how to do it.

"_I died!"_

"I'm coming to save you!" He yelled at the skylight. "I'm coming to kill Chase Collins and save your life even if I don't know how yet!"

And with that he ran out the church into his truck and drove to Spencer academy to find her file and address.


	25. Chapter 25

Tyler found the file, copied down all of the information at super-speed, was preparing to drive off in his truck when he remembered Pogue and Reid. He pulled out his cellphone, fiddled with the numbers until he found Pogue's on speed dial 3 and pushed the green button. The dial tone rang twice before someone picked up. 

"Hello?"

"Pogue, I figured out where Chase has Maddie, its in her house in London. I think I can find a way to get there soon, but its really risky and I wanted to let you know and-"

"Tyler?"

The voice was familiar, although not Pogue's. It sounded older, more tired, and it cracked a bit at the end of the single word it spoke.

"Tyler, I'm really sorry." Caleb said sadly. "But I really have to do this. Its for the good of everyone." He hung up and the dial tone rang aimlessly for a long time before Tyler assimilated the fact that Caleb now knew where Maddie was and was on his way to kill her.

"Shit!" he swore, and threw his phone against the wall. It shattered, and Tyler ran his hands through his dark hair. "Shit, shit, shit, shit." He groaned. He kept messing up more and more, now two people were out to kill Maddie. The only solution was to get to her before either of them did.

"Ok. Lets do this."

He paced around the parking lot for a minute wondering how the hell he was supposed to teleport to London. He thought back to his childhood when he read books about the supernatural and heroes that would save the world with their gifts. He remembered vaguely one story where a girl was trying to teach a boy to teleport properly.

_Close your eyes. Concentrate on the place you want to go. Release power, just a little to start and make it more and more intense. When you feel you've done something, open your eyes._

Tyler closed his eyes. He concentrated on the only specific place he knew in London, Big Ben, the clock in the middle of the city. He concentrated hard, and started slowly releasing a flow of power. He kept intensifying it, still concentrating on getting himself to London England, until it reached his maximum. He stopped the flow, and opened his eyes.

"Shit." He swore, and kicked his truck. He was still in the parking lot, nothing had changed.

He tried recalling more of the book, but nothing came to him. He tried again.

He closed his eyes, concentrated really hard on the clock, and started releasing power. Still concentrating on Big Ben, his mind slowly drifted to thoughts of Maddie and his insane desire to save her. He eventually forgot what he was doing, until he felt suddenly really cold and heard a loud honk and people screaming. He opened his eyes with a start, and barely managed to jump out of the way of a car that was zooming towards him. He slipped in a puddle and fell onto the sidewalk, hitting his head against the building behind him. He looked up, and stared at the clock that told him that it was 4 am.

"What the devil were you thinking! Crazy kid…" The driver that had nearly run him over screamed from his car.

Tyler just sat there, agape, amazed at his teleportation and how fast he had gotten here. He tried standing after a minute and almost immediately his knees buckled and he fell again. It was then that he realized how weak he was.

He stumbled to his feet with help from a bench, and sat down on it, completely exhausted. He observed the ongoing traffic for a moment before unfolding the piece of paper from his pocket and reading the address on it.

"S'cuse me." He intercepted a passing man. "Could you tell me where… Romeo street is?"

"Romeo street? Well kiddo before finding that one you need to find Juliet boulevard!" He laughed crazily and walked away. Tyler watched him walk away, then tried again.

"Excuse me, ma'am, do you happen to know where Romeo street is?" he asked a nice-looking old lady that was walking by.

"Why yes, I do. My daughter used to live on that street." She smiled. "You just follow this street until you reach Martin boulevard. Then you walk two blocks and turn right."

"Thank you so much." He said. "Can I help you carry those bags?" he asked, motioning to the grocery bags she was carrying.

"That would be nice, thank you." She smiled a wrinkly, kind smile. Tyler picked up the three bags. "I have my car parked at the next block." She said. "it isn't far."

They walked slowly, Tyler attempting to make small talk to have something else to concentrate on than the pain and his weakness.

"You said your daughter used to live there? On Romeo street?"

"Yes, she did. She met her future husband at the park on that street when she was fifteen. Ten years later they were married, with a baby on the way." She smiled sadly. "That was before everything fell apart. She passed away a few years ago, and my son-in-law moved away with my granddaughter. I would very much love to see her again, she looked so much like her mother… What brings you to this neighborhood? You don't sound English to me."

"I'm not, I'm on…. Uh vacation," he stammered. The old lady didn't look convinced, but she didn't ask him for more. "…and I have to meet a friend somewhere… on Romeo street."

"Whatever your secret is, don't let it harm you." The lady said with a sly smile. "This is my car." She opened the trunk of the car carefully. Tyler put the bags in it. "Thank you, young man. I hope your friend is ok."

"Yeah, me too."

* * *

13 Romeo street had nothing romantic about it. It didn't seem like the dreamy, castle-like childhood home he had imagined it to be. It was huge, certainly, but the outside was completely made of geometrical shapes, with sharp corners and huge modern shiny windows. It looked more like a spaceship than a house. It wasn't until Tyler noticed the gaping hole where the back door should be (the front was locked, and he didn't feel like using pointlessly) that he suspected anything was wrong.

The door was literally missing. There were shards of wood stuck in bushes nearby, in a tree, on the ground and a few in the walls of the house, but no door. The hinges were still there, burnt, twisted and deformed. The hole was person-sized, clearly whoever made it didn't feel like bothering to unlock the door.

He stepped inside carefully, walking over a few larger chunks of wood, and passed through a modern hallway, a super-equipped kitchen and up a marble staircase. Halfway up he gagged and almost fell backwards.

Sprawled in the middle of the steps was a woman, her body twisted in the most unnatural way possible, her hair a mess, her face contorted in utter horror, blood still dripping from a hole in her chest. There were bloody footprints leading to another corpse, a middle aged man lying on his stomach, in a crawling position, his head hacked off. A large blood pool was forming mid-waist, and two clear sets of prints were visible in them. They continued into the hall of the second floor, where one set shrunk and separated from the second with larger strides, then the other person caught up and the second set disappeared completely.

_Maddie tried to run._ He thought.

Tyler walked through the hall, not worrying about anything but Maddie until he heard a creaking sound under his feet. He stopped walking, looked down, and noticed that the cold marble floor had transformed into old wooden floor-boards halfway through the hall. He looked up and around, and noticed that the paint on the walls had changed into wallpaper, the ceiling had changed color and a new set of people were grinning back at him from the photographs on the wall. The lights had dimmed and, if he wasn't mistaken, the hall went from smelling like fresh blood and metal to cinnamon incense.

Another creak behind him made Tyler turn around. With a flash Caleb had grabbed his hand with his right, covered his mouth with his left and immobilized him completely. Tyler swore into the leather of his gloves, which came out as an inaudible muffle. He tried kicking, squirming, fighting his way out of Caleb's grip but it was useless. Caleb shoved him silently against a wall, tying Tyler's hands together with some wire he had brought. After sufficiently gagging him with a few hankerchiefs and solidifying the bonds with power-infused tape and wire he let Tyler fall to the floor with a thump.

"I'm sorry Tyler." He said grimly, before heading off towards the end of the hall. Tyler squirmed and tried to free himself of the bonds, failing, and instead losing his balance and toppling over, his head landing in a pile of someone else's blood. He could feel the liquid seep through his hair and shuddered. He tried to pull himself up, barely managing to lean against the wall.


	26. Chapter 26

A girl screamed somewhere at the end of the hall.

This gave Tyler new initiative, and he found a system to help himself up. First of all he would press the top of his head against the wall as strongly as he could. From there he rolled over and ended up on his knees, his head still against the wall. He would then inch his head up slowly, following by bringing his knees closer to the wall. After a few grueling minutes he managed to stand completely, although a little off-balance from the tape binding both his feet together.

He mumbled something through the gag, biting at it until it became wet and slipped off his mouth onto his chin then neck. He took a deep breath. He managed to take off his shoes, and then hopped slowly and carefully down the hall.

He heard sobbing.

He hopped faster.

Once the hall stopped there were two doors, one of each side of the hall. Caleb was nowhere to be seen, so he assumed he was inside one of them. Tyler bent down a little and looked into the keyhole of the door on his right. It was dark and there wasn't anything there. He turned around painfully and looked into the next one.

This door was ajar, so he didn't have to look through the keyhole. There was a dim light coming from inside. Tyler looked in. He blinked a few times to make sure he was seeing things properly.

The room was painted a light pink, with a small bed in one corner, a bookshelf in another and some more furniture everywhere. But what was unbelievable was what was happening in the middle of the room. A young woman, who looked maybe in her early thirties, with light blonde hair and light eyes was dressing a doll with a little girl with equally light hair. The girl had pigtails tied with pink ribbons, was wearing a white dress and was radiating a gorgeous smile. The woman looked almost deliriously happy.

Then a crash occurred, and a dark figure appeared from another door. (a closet?) The woman panicked, grabbed the girl and brought her to the bed, telling her to hide under it. The girl obliged, and hid under the bed until only her eyes were visible amongst the shadows.

The dark figure was a man, who entered and grabbed the woman roughly by the arm. She screamed, he threw her against the wall. She fell, started bleeding from a gash in her arm. The man ran towards her, and shoved her on her back on the floor. She screamed again, he slapped her. He undid his belt and started raping her violently, from this angle Tyler could see the woman, tears in her eyes, making eye contact with the girl as if telling her to stay put and to not move. The girl moved further under the bed.

The man finished, stood, redid his pants and took out a gun. The woman cried, tried to run with her skirt ripped and pulled down, tripped, and was shot four times in the back. She hiccupped once, and fell to the floor, dead. The man looked around once, stuffed the gun in his pocket and ran out the way he came.

The small girl snuck out from under the bed and crawled over to the woman.

"_mommy."_

She placed her little hands on the woman's back, getting blood all over her blonde hair and white dress.

"_Mommy, why are you sleeping? Mommy?"_

The little girl ran her hands through the blood-soaked hair, than looked up at someone sitting in a dark corner of the room.

"Now wasn't that grand?"

The dark figure stepped out of the closet and became Chase Collins. He grinned at Maddie, who was sitting on a wooden chair in the corner of the room, her arms wrapped around her chest. Tears were slowly seeping down her cheeks and staining her skirt. She looked straight ahead at the little girl. A moment later she and the dead woman disappeared in a twirl of smoke.

Chase walked closer to Maddie. She didn't even react, just stared where the girl used to be.

"Madeline, it really isn't polite to ignore people." He said with a smirk. Maddie still didn't look up at him. "Madeline." She blinked. "Don't make me hurt you."

She finally looked up at him with her painful grey eyes.

"Isn't that the whole point of this?" she whispered.

Chase snickered. He walked closer, and ran a finger along her cheek, getting it wet from her tears. He brought it to his lips and licked the salty liquid off. Maddie peered at him hatefully.

"It isn't the point. You see, Maddie, I don't hate you, far from it. You're so… interesting. And peculiar, and I'm only hurting you to get to those Sons of Ipswich you insist on protecting. No hard feelings?"

"None at all." She said. "But you aren't going to get to them through me. They hate me. I'm not expecting anyone to come save me, so you can kill me as soon as you want." She spat the last sentence out.

Tyler thought this would maybe be his cue to jump out, heroically save the damsel and foil the bad guy's plot. But his feet were still tied, he could barely move his hands an he knew there was no way in hell that he could defeat Chase, even if he had his usual level of power. So he gritted his teeth and mentally punched Chase in the face.

Then Caleb appeared out of nowhere, looking like a tough-guy hero in his long black coat and leather gloves. He stood in the middle of the room, Chase looking satisfied and Maddie looking mildly shocked.

"I'm not here to save you." He said coldly. "I'm here to kill you before he does." He motioned to Chase. "So move."

Chase was standing inadvertently between he and Maddie.

"How about no?" Chase hissed. "I'm the only one that's going to be hurting this beautiful young girl…" he ran his fingers across her cheek again.

Caleb sighed, reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun.

Chase flinched at the sight of the gun, Tyler froze in shock and Maddie didn't blink. She just looked up at him with her sad grey eyes. Caleb closed his, pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger.


	27. Chapter 27

Tyler hit the door with his side, jumped in and tackled Caleb from the back, causing his gun to fly out of his hands and the bullet change directions accordingly.. It shot with a bang and lodged itself in the wall, a few inches above Maddie's head. With the shock and extra weight put upon him Caleb fell to the floor under Tyler. Upon seeing him Maddie's eyes widened in true surprise.

"Tyler you little fuck, cant you see that now she's going to be suffering until she dies?" Caleb hissed, dragging himself from underneath his friend and off the floor. "You just condemned her!"

"I did not!" Tyler growled. "I'm here to save her, and neither you or Chase are going to lay a single fucking finger on her-"

He was interrupted by a swift kick in the stomach. He gasped for air. Caleb was sneering at him from above, his eyes glowing a dark shade that didn't bode well. When he was about to do something that would put Tyler in large of pain Chase decided to use his own power to make a piece of ceiling fall on top of Caleb. The pink painted plaster shattered when it hit the top of his head, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he lost consciousness.

"Oh dear, lookie lookie." Chase said in a mocking voice. He was standing, with a single index finger on top of Maddie's head, the other one busy resting on the trigger of Caleb's gun, totally unfazed by the fact he had just given him a concussion. "I'm afraid that isn't going to happen, Baby boy. You see…" He moved his hand so that the barrel of the gun was resting against the side of Maddie's head. "I'm afraid that goldy-locks is very, truly going to die. And very soon, too."

Tyler looked up at him, horrified.

"Chase, please, I'll do anything, just please don't hurt her… please!" He squirmed on the floor, his hands and feet still bound. He looked up at Chase pleadingly. "Please!"

Chase considered it for a moment.

"No. Sorry." He bounced his finger lightly on the trigger.

"I thought I deserved all this." Maddie said quietly, looking down mournfully at Tyler from her chair. He realized for the first time that she wasn't bound in any way, and that she could have attempted escape a long time ago.

"Did you say that? Tsk, tsk, Tyler. You must never say that to a lady." Chase said. He thought for a moment and looked at the two of them. "Baby boy, do you really want to save this girl?"

"More than anything!" he blurted out, fiddling with the bindings around his wrists.

"Good, good. Well then there are a few possibilities for you. You can either kill the pesky boy beside you, will me your power, kill me – but that will be difficult… or… kiss the lovely young lady sitting here on the chair."

"What?"

"You heard me." Chase smiled devilishly, and transferred the gun from Maddie to Tyler. "Choose wisely."

Tyler looked back at Chase, with a look of pure confusion. Then his gaze drifted to Caleb, who looked as shocked as he was if not more, to Maddie, who looked simply horrified. She had started shaking again, and was looking at Chase with silent pleas, begging him with her eyes not to make Tyler do this.

"So what will it be, Tyler Sims?" Chase asked, putting the gun one last time on Maddie's temple, grinning his sadistic grin. "You have ten seconds to do whichever you choose. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven…"

Maddie looked up at Chase one last time.

"Please…" she whispered, new tears streaming down her cheeks. Chase just grinned down at her and kept counting.

"Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One…"

Tyler desperately stood, hopped over, tripped, and kissed Maddie square on the lips, falling down as he did so and bringing her and the chair she was sitting on down with him.

Her lips were cold, and wet, and she tasted like sweetness and blood, for some reason. The kiss barely lasted five seconds before Maddie pulled herself back violently and crawled away, crying, her hand clasped over her mouth. She was looking at Tyler as if he had just hit her again.

"Well done, baby boy." Chase laughed. He walked over, picked up Maddie by her collar and lifted her up until she barely stood, her toes hovering against the floor. "Come on darling, show me your lovely luscious lips…" With his other hand he moved her hand off her mouth with a violent swipe.

Her lips were bright red and bleeding when Chase examined them. He placed a single finger on top to retrieve some blood, and observed it on his finger for a moment before bursting into laughter. Maddie was dropped onto the floor, where she promptly crawled into a corner and wiped her mouth on her sleeve, making spreading crimson stains on the white fabric.

"You read the book, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Well then you know that the thing that she loves the most will cause her the most pain. How adorable is it that she switched from her childhood to you?"

"What?"

"Tyler, Tyler, Tyler. You really haven't been showing off your smarts recently, have you?"

Chase walked over to him and leaned over, so that he was inches from Tyler's face and he could smell the stench of blood and death on his clothes.

"Maddie and Tyler, sittin' in a tree." Chase started signing. "K-I-S-S-I-N-"

Maddie threw her chair at him full force, the wood seat hitting him square in the back of the head with a sickening thud. He didn't even flinch, simply turning around and facing her with an evil look in his eyes.

"Don't throw things at me, girl. I could do things to you that would make you wish you were dead."

She didn't say anything, just gave him a look of pure hatred and made fists with her bloody hands. When he turned around again she grabbed a book and threw it to him as well. She had great aim, as the projectile hit him in the same spot the chair had, this time a corner sinking into the bruised flesh and a wound started bleeding from the back of his sandy hair. He spun around, infuriated, and his eyes went black.

Maddie shot from one end of the room to the other, Chase holding her by the neck as he slowly lifted her up.

"Don't you fucking dare you little-"

Maddie coughed and spit blood on him. Chase recoiled, wiped the crimson droplets off his face and shirt and slapped Maddie hard. She flinched a little and a new splash of blood dripped down her face, one of Chase's nails had slit her cheek that now yielded a large gash.

Chase, noticing that the physical pain he tried inflicting on her didn't affect her as much as he wanted it too, resorted to a different technique. He dropped her on the floor, where she prompted to rub her neck and the bruises caused by Chase's hand and wiped the gash on her cheek with her sleeve.

"Maddie, are you ok?" Tyler reached to place a shaking hand on her shoulder, but he never reached it because she jerked away and gave him a seething look, before spitting out more blood on the floor with a cough.

Chase watched this, irritated, when an idea dawned on him and he grinned. He leaned forward and snapped the binds that held his feet and wrists together with his nails. Tyler massaged the bloody red marks on his wrists as he looked up at Chase.

"What do you want?" He spat, still rubbing his wrists.

"The same thing you do." He grinned, and pulled Tyler up by his wrists. "Lovely little Madeline."

Tyler glanced at her. She was sitting all bloody on the floor, all her features blank except her eyes that were looking up at them with a mixed expression of fear and hatred.

"You love her, don't you?" Chase hissed.

"Yeah." Tyler whispered.

"Say it. And louder too." He sunk his nails into Tyler's wrist.

"I love her!" he screamed angrily.

Maddie blinked and her eyes filled with tears again. The anger was replaced with grief and sadness, and she looked around the room desperately, her eyes settling on Caleb for a brief moment before she was looking up at Chase again

"Good. Then you wouldn't mind doing something that people that love each other do. Like, say… holding her hand."

"What?"

"You heard me. Do it." He hissed. He released Tyler's wrist. "But just to be sure…" He walked around behind Maddie and shoved the barrel of the gun into the back of her head, and looked at Tyler expectantly.

He crawled towards Maddie. When he got close enough to reach out and touched her she cringed and closed her eyes, preparing for whatever was to come. Tyler reached out slowly and grabbed her bloodsoaked hand and held it for a few seconds.

Then Maddie screamed.

She pulled her hand back so violently her entire body lurched backwards, bumping into Chase and making him take a few steps back, out of surprise, he hadn't expected the effect to be this grand.

Tyler grabbed Maddie's sleeve and tugged on it so that the hand she was cradling was visible. His eyes widened at what he saw.

Her entire palm was burnt, to the point where bright red skin was peeling off and revealing wounds oozing of blood and ash-like burnt skin. The back of her hand, where his fingers had been, had the same wounds.

She tugged her sleeve away from him.

"Please Tyler." She whispered. "Please just don't touch me…" she said painfully.


	28. Chapter 28

"...Not an option, you see, I've discovered that the only way to _really _hurt you is through him. And the only way to hurt him is through you." And with that Chase grabbed Tyler's wrist and flung him towards Maddie. She yelped, and scooted out of the way in time, moments later Tyler hit the wall with a loud thump, and bits of plaster from the ceiling rained on his head. He groaned and stood shakily, his power might be temporarily weakened but his will and body were still stronger than average.

"Chase Collins I am going to fucking _murder _you…"

"No you wont. Because if you kill me… which you physically can't," He shoved the barrel of his gun roughly against the back of Madeline's head, making a painful sound and a trickle of red dripped onto the trigger. "Then lovely Maddie dies."

"I won't let you kill her."

"You don't have a choice, baby boy."

"I always have a choice." He said, almost out of breath. Chase smirked, and raised his other free hand. His eyes went black, and bits of plaster detached themselves from the already busted ceiling. Pieces as large as bricks then started hurling themselves at Tyler, who, unable to move, couldn't avoid them and was soon on the floor and bleeding heavily as the velocity of the projectiles increased.

Maddie, who Chase had lost interest in, was sitting in her corner, staring in horror, when she noticed out of the corner of her eye the movement from under a pile of plaster. She crawled over to Caleb, and started removing the plaster that he was buried under, until he was completely free and barely conscious.

"Caleb." She whispered. "I know you want to kill me, but please, forget about that for a minute so that you can save Tyler… please!" she begged him. Caleb blinked and looked around the room, a bit disoriented, and his gaze finally set on Tyler who was being beaten to death by flying chunks of pink plaster.

"I can try." He said hazily. He stood, walked clumsily towards Chase, and punched him in the side of the face. Chase flew back and hit the wall, and at the same time his eyes returned to normal and Tyler had stopped being beaten to death by flying objects.

Chase and Caleb forgot about their powers for a using and both of them began beating each other up, using fists and feet until Caleb, still groggy from his head injury, was flung to the floor and Chase laughed victoriously when he didn't get up again.

"Ty! Tyler!" Maddie shook Tyler's arm forcefully, hands clutched on the fabric of his jacket. She didn't do so for long however, as Chase waltzed over and picked her up by her collar again, this time not as gently.

His eyes were pitch black and he was grinning madly, drunk off the adrenaline from his win, and he shook her a bit hard. She gagged and placed her fingers in her collar to lessen the tightness.

"Lovely little Maddie why the fuck do you keep getting in my way?" he hissed, still grinning. "Its not going to help, you're just going to suffer more and die sooner…"

He stuck his other arm out and with it attracted a long piece of copper wire from who knows where. He clutched it in his fist and approached the sharpest end to Maddie's face. He ran it along her cheek, her neck, and more roughly down the side of her shirt where the fabric parted and ripped, showing some pale skin. Maddie squirmed and tried shying away from the makeshift weapon, but without success.

"Squirm all you want, fight all you want… but you're _mine_ Madeline, and nothing in the world can ever change that…"

Just then Chase's attention seemed to weaken for just a moment, and that moment was long enough for Tyler to reach out, grab the gun that he had forgotten on the floor, and shoot Chase Collins twice in the side of the head.

Even with his using Chase wasn't able to stop the bullets from piercing the side of his skull, penetrating the softness of the inside of his head, and stop midway. His eyes widened upon impact and his face deformed itself a bit when they stopped, blood started trickling from his ears and the two dime-sized holes on his temple as Maddie stared in silent horror. His grip loosened, she dropped to the floor and scrambled away from what would soon be the corpse of Chase Collins.

Tyler staggered to his feet, dropped the gun, and stared down at Chase's body for a moment. He looked surprisingly weak, lying there with the pool of blood around his head. But Chase's post-mortem condition was the least of his worries.

"Maddie!"

He spun around and dropped to the floor again, right in front of her.

She was looking right in front of her, blankly, not really taking in anything, just, staring. Her shirt was ripped in several places, She had a large bruise decorated with a gash on her cheek and the long, thin, line that Chase had traced with the copper wire had started trickling blood. A splatter of Chase's darker blood was across her chest and a few drops on her face. She didn't look up at Tyler when he approached her.

A strand of blonde and bloody hair flew in front of her face. With his hand Tyler awkwardly repeated the gesture he had done not so long ago, brushing the strands out from in front of her and behind her ear, where they belonged. His fingers lingered at her cheek for a second too long and she closed her eyes tightly. Tyler pulled his hand away.

"Sorry." He whispered.

They just sat there, in the quiet of the bedroom that was slowly losing the appearance of a child's and returning to its original shape and décor. Caleb's deep, struggling breaths and the drip of Chase's blood made up the only noise.

Then, out of the blue, Maddie moved quickly and wrapped her arms around Tyler's neck and buried her face in his shoulder. More than just slightly shocked, Tyler didn't move for a minute, than, hesitantly, put his arms around her and pulled her closer.

She smelled like blood and vanilla, and her hair was incredibly soft. Tyler could feel her crying into his shoulder and her resistance to pulling away. He knew that whatever she was doing was causing her a great deal of pain.

Then it hit him.

"Aw shit." He whispered. Maddie didn't reply, and he buried his face in her blonde hair.

"This is hurting you isn't it?" he whispered eventually.

"Don't care." She replied in a muffled mumble.

Tyler carefully and reluctantly pulled away, disconnecting her arms from around him and placing them by her sides. When he looked back at her she was looking at him mournfully from puffy red eyes.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"You don't need to be sorry for anything, you didn't do a thing…"

"I did." She interrupted him. "I ruined your friendships. I nearly got you all killed. I lied to all of you."

Tyler frowned when she said she had lied.

"How?"

"When I met you. It wasn't because I didn't see you die." Tyler's eyes widened. Maddie smiled sadly. "It was because every time I go to bed at night and fall asleep I see myself die the same way, and every time you're always there." She said in a whisper.

"What? But-"

Maddie started crying again, tears trickling down her cheeks and mixing with the blood from her wounds. Tyler looked at her and the wounds on her hands from touching him. Before he could open his mouth she had.

"I would tell you. I really would. But it would haunt you for the rest of your life…"

Tyler understood what she meant a split-second too late, when he had noticed Chase behind her raising his disfigured head and his bloody hand that was clutching the gun and shakily pointed it at them. He tried to move in front of it but Maddie grabbed his hands tightly and stopped him.

With three bullets shot into her back Maddie's grip loosened and she delicately crumpled into Tyler's arms 


	29. Chapter 29

"She likes lilies best." 

Tyler looked up from the wet grassy ground and into the icy blue eyes of Anastasia. He looked back down at the dozen white roses he had stuck in a row in the wet dirt.

"Her mum used to weave them in her hair." Ana added.

She took a few steps, then paused, hesitant. Tyler noticed and scooted over a few inches, leaving room for Ana to sit beside him against the tree trunk. She sat, thankfully, and shared her umbrella with him. Quietly, they sat, and reflected on the events of the past weeks.

Chase Collins was very much dead (this time.)

Tyler had made sure of that. In fact, he was so bent on massacring every inch of Chase that was still solid that he nearly killed Caleb when the latter came to and tried to intervene. Thankfully for him, after a few hours of pummeling an already dead man, the physical strain and the excess using, Tyler's body was unable to function and he passed out cold.

When he woke up nine hours later, he was greeted with the harsh reality that Maddie was dead and buried, whereas he and Caleb were on a plane, minutes away from landing in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

And when they landed and shared the news, Ana had for the first time shown an emotion other than lust or indifference. Her mask was left to crumble and she cried for hours straight in Reid's arms.

"I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be, Tyler Sims. Nothing you did could have changed anything. What happens happens. Maddie knows that more than anyone. Now go off and be happy, she would like that."

Tyler stayed silent, and fiddled with the wilted petals of one of the roses, who were gently getting soaked from the rain. Ana knew, about Maddie's odd gift, and she had explained that one of the reasons Maddie could stand having physical contact with her was because she died peacefully. She didnt specify how (Maddie never specified.)

"One thing bugs me." Tyler said. "She said she could see us die, like everyone else. But how did she figure out about our powers?"

They had given Ana _the talk _that they had given Sarah and Kate. It only seemed fair, since it was the same power that had taken her first and only best friend's life.

"She's a smart girl." Ana said. She still spoke of Madeline in the present tense, even though she had been dead over twenty four hours. "And maybe one of your deaths involved it. Or it could have been Fae's video that tipped her off..."

Tyler shrugged it off. There were too many unanswered questions, and no one left to answer them. If they spent their time pondering how and why certain things happened they would certainly get lost in the cycle.

"She loves you." Ana said bluntly, and answering the question that had been bothering Tyler from the moment her heart stopped.

_I would tell you. I really would. But it would haunt you for the rest of your life..._

"You don't know that." He said simply.

"I don't." Ana said firmly. "But you do. And so did she."

She fumbled in her pocket and took from it a piece of paper that had been folded too many times than necessary. She unfolded it carefully, making sure not to get it wet, and shoved it in Tyler's open palm before closing his fingers around it.

"Present." She said. "And don't you dare think of returning it."

Tyler opened his hand and looked at the paper.

"What is this?"

"I have this nasty habit of taking pictures of people when they aren't looking. And i thought that maybe for once it could come in handy."

Tyler looked down at the small colour polaroid that Ana had given him. He recognized the tree, the same they were sitting against right now, but Anastasia was behind the camera and her blonde friend was sitting beside Tyler instead. In her lap was a book, her hands were gloved in dark leather like they always had been and her head was turned slightly towards his. Her pale hair was blowing in her face, and his hand was outstretched and between his fingers was a single golden strand. Ana had captured the single blissful peaceful moment he and Maddie had lived before they were bothered with curses and powers. And she was returning the split-second of peace to him, printed on a polaroid.

"Ana, I can't-"

"Sorry Ty, no refunds."

She stood, took her umbrella and strutted across the park, waving a quick goodbye with her right hand, using the other to light a cigarette clumsily. Tyler looked back at her curiously, and watched her disappear under the rain. He carefully placed the picture in his pocket, making sure not to get it wet.

"That's one hell of a habit," He whispered. He stared off into the distance for a few seconds, before the urge to look at the picture again nagged him enough to do so. He unfolded it, and looked at it for a long five minutes before a faint smile, the first in a long time, appeared across his lips. He placed the picture back in his pocket for the second time, stood, and walked towards his car and headed off to Nicky's.

* * *

_Thats all, folks! (for now...)_


	30. Chapter 30

_AUTHORS NOTE:_

_Well, ive devised a scheme that will let me update during the summer (Although it still wont be as frequent), and ive decided to start a sequel to Doomsday. Just because its done doesnt mean you guys have to stop reviewing! I promise more covenant antics, very soon. _

_And speaking of which, if anyone has any ideas they want to share i'm open to hear them, my brains running low on imagination since my exams started._

_So yes._

_Review, inspire me and all that jazz._

_xoxoxo_


	31. Author's note

Just a note, for all those who read this and liked it. The sequel is up! So go check it out!  



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